
This Modest New York Apartment Holds One of the Best Art Collections in Town
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/t-magazine/alvin-hall-art-collection.html
T’s 2021 Art Issue
Over the course of 40 years, Alvin Hall has amassed a trove of blue-chip artists merely by trusting his eye.


June 14, 2021
Observers of the art market have referred to the rising demand for work by contemporary African-American artists in recent years as, among other things, a “furor” or “surging,” and the work itself as “a hot commodity.” Ten years ago, it was relatively rare to see a Black artist’s work set a record at auction. Now, such sales are routine, boosted by numerous high-profile lots, perhaps most famously Kerry James Marshall’s 1997 painting “Past Times” (purchased by the rapper and music producer Sean Combs for $21.1 million at a Sotheby’s sale in 2018) and, more recently, Jean Michel-Basquiat’s “In This Case” (1983), which sold at Christie’s in May for $93.1 million — an astronomical price, but still only the second-highest ever paid for a Basquiat.
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T’s 2021 Art Issue
A look at the soul of the art world, and where it’s headed.
- Experts weigh in on how to buy a work of art , and artists share which artists to keep an eye on.
- How TriBeCa became New York’s hottest new gallery district, home to PPOW and more — and where to find notable galleries outside of New York and Los Angeles.
- The down-to-earth guy with one of the most exciting collections around …
- … And the optimistic artist who turned the Met’s rooftop into a “Sesame Street” fantasy.