By: Lindsay Pollack

A print portfolio by Jacob Lawrence that included an image of famed abolitionist John Brown dangling from a hangman's noose fetched $156,000 and received a round of applause yesterday afternoon as the top lot at a landmark auction of African-American artworks.

A standing-room-only crowd of over 200 mostly black art enthusiasts packed the New York salesroom at Swann Galleries as auction records were set for dozens of artists considered long- neglected by the art-world establishment.

The Swann sale was the first major New York auction dedicated to African-American artists. Results totaled $2.3 million, a notch over the $2 million low estimate, and the mood was serious yet celebratory during the more than four hours it took to hammer down 222 prints, drawings, paintings and sculptures.

The auction was scheduled to take place during Black History Month and close to New York's 11th annual National Black Fine Art Show, which ended Feb. 4.

The buyer of the Lawrence set, identified by Swann as a private collector from California, also paid $64,800 for a vertical yellow 1962 painting by Beauford Delaney, an auction record for the artist's work.

Bidding was brisk as dealers from as far away as France, Louisiana and California vied with private collectors, including a Brooklyn lawyer and hedge-fund manager. Only 30 lots failed to sell.

Historic Sale

``This is historic,'' said Maryland private collector Otis Robertson, who has collected African-American art for 27 years. ``And it feels good.''

Robertson was simultaneously thrilled that results had vindicated his long-standing interest in the field and fearful he might be priced out of the market.

The top lot, ``The Legend of John Brown,'' was a series of 22 prints made in 1977 celebrating Brown's life. Lawrence had originally painted the works on small panels in 1941, when he was 23 years old. His dealer, Edith Halpert, tried to sell that gritty series to the Museum of Modern Art, which declined after having recently acquired part of Lawrence's famous ``Migration Series.''

Halpert later sold the series to clients who donated it to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The final panel shows Brown executed for treason and murder.

The sale was especially strong in prints and drawings, which is Swann's specialty. But there were a handful of other important artworks, including a spare, carved-mahogany female torso from 1976 by Elizabeth Catlett, which fetched $120,000 from a phone bidder identified by Swann as a Midwest collector.

Auction Record

New York dealer Michael Rosenfeld, who also bid by phone, bought ``Street Music,'' a kinetic 1950 Norman Lewis painting filled with dancing stick figures. He paid $67,200, more than three times Lewis's previous auction record.

Rosenfeld also bought a gray, black and red Romare Bearden collage (circa 1967-1970) titled ``Untitled (Four Figures).'' He was the lone bidder and snagged the bold work for $48,000, just below the $50,000 low estimate.

``Normally we wouldn't want to separate African-American fine art,'' said Nigel Freeman, Swann's associate director of prints and drawings, who organized the sale. ``These artists are very important American artists, but they need this kind of support.''

Swann said it sold all 3,000 copies of the auction catalog.

Swann's sale brought together many of the biggest names in black art of the past century. Works by Benny Andrews, Lois Mailou Jones, Charles White and Hale Woodruff drew stiff competition.

Range of Work

The sale was the first time at auction for about half its 70 artists, according to Swann's Freeman. Offerings included a late-19th-century landscape by Edward Mitchell Bannister, pieces from the African-inspired Harlem Renaissance, desolate scenes from the WPA era and accomplished mid-century abstracts.

The Swann sale also included contemporary artists such as David Hammons and Kara Walker, whose 10-by-10-inch 1995 ``Kneeling Silhouette'' of cut-out paper mounted on canvas sold for $43,200, more than four times the $10,000 high estimate.

Prominent collectors of African-American art include comedian Bill Cosby and basketball player Grant Hill. American- art collectors and an increasing number of museums have also begun to acquire work.

Boston collector and private dealer John Axelrod began focusing on African-American artists 14 years ago. ``In order to have a great collection of 20th-century American art, I needed to have these artists,'' said Axelrod. ``I didn't buy them because they were black. I bought them because they were great.''

Works by some of the artists in the auction are on view at ``Decoding Myth: African American Abstraction 1945-1975'' at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 24 W. 57th St., New York, until March 3. The show includes paintings by Lewis, Delaney, Woodruff and bronze sculptures by Harold Cousins.

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