James W. Hyams started collecting art in 1967 when he was a student in college. The first work Hyams purchased—Vegetable Soup Can from Campbell’s Soup I by Andy Warhol—was paid for in installments and hung in his dorm room. A few years later, he purchased his second work by Warhol and from there collecting became a way of life.
Over the years, Hyams has amassed a stunning collection of prints from 1960s to the present day. From Warhol to Hirst, or Lichtenstein to Doig, his collection is about as contemporary as it gets. Focusing on works that he likes by influential artists, his collection of more than 400 prints is an exceptional survey of the most important art movements of the second half of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century.
Generous with his collection, Hyams has loaned many works to galleries and universities, sharing his collection with a public audience. Further, his pieces are proudly on display in his home, his acclaimed interior widely published.
I don't buy pieces that I don't like. But I do have a purpose in my collection. I am interested in buying key artists from the period.
James W. Hyams
Carrie Mae Weems b. 1953
American multidisciplinary artist Carrie Mae Weems was born in Portland, Oregon and joined Anna Halprin’s experimental San Francisco Dancers' Workshop at just 17 years old. In 1976, she moved to New York where she took photography classes at the Studio Museum in Harlem before returning to the West Coast where she earned a BA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (1981) and a MFA in photography from the University of California, San Diego (1984). After earning her degrees, Weems spent three years studying folklore at University of California, Berkeley.
From an early point in her career, Weems recognized photography’s potential to explore black cultural mythologies and dismantle negative social preconceptions. Over time she branched out into video and performance art as well, providing additional outlets through which she can pose questions about race, gender, and class inequality. Her landmark The Kitchen Table Series (1990) featured herself as the recurring subject in a series of photographs at a single kitchen table, by herself or with others, thereby centering the the commonly overlooked roles of women in the home. More recently, in 2006, her Roaming series of photographs shows Weems’ alter ego in various landscapes and famous cities throughout Italy. The works feature Weems in a long dark dress, her back to the camera, and ask the viewer to share her perspective in relation to these recognizable and historically charged places.
In the 21st century, Weems expanded her practice to include community outreach. She is a co-founder of the artist collective Social Studies 101 (2002), which ran an anti-violence campaign, Operation Activate (2011) in Syracuse, and launched a mentorship program called the Institute of Sound and Style in 2012. Weems has been the subject of many solo surveys, as well as a traveling retrospective organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville and presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014). She is also the recipient of numerous honors, including the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1993), Herb Alpert Award in the Visual Arts (1996), Rome Prize (2005–06), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2013).
Auction Results Carrie Mae Weems
