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Halima Taha author of the groundbreaking bestseller, Collecting African American Art:Works on Paper and Canvas (Crown Publishing, Verve Editions 2005)is the first to validate collecting important fine art, prints and photography by  Americans of African descent as an asset and  commodity within the art market. Benny Andrews, former National Endowment Arts Director of the Visual Arts Program and  artist gave  Taha the moniker, “ Ambassador of Equity for artists and collectors of  African American art.” 1

Within the course of her career she has contributed to the art world and academia in diverse capacities including gallery owner, fine art appraiser, curator, art advisor, adjunct professor, speaker, arts in education liaison, public programs specialist and strategic arts management consultant.

She is also co-author of Thirty Years of American Printmaking: Brandywine Workshop Workshop (Hudson Hill Press)and contributed to several books and magazines about contemporary art, collecting, appraising and arts management. Her commitment to education includes participation as a keynote speaker and panelist for many museums, academic and corporate programs, as well as being former faculty and Director of the Gordon Parks Gallery at the College of New Rochelle in New York an Adjunct Professor and Curator for the Scott Kaplan Gallery at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

She is a columnist and arts writer for the Robert Abbott Sengstacke Foundation publication Bronzeville Life and is literary advisor for the Ntozake Shange Literary Trust.

A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and New York University, earning Liberal Arts and Arts Management & Cultural policy degrees; she also has a Certificate in Appraisal Studies from New York University and is USPAP compliant. She is a member of ArtTable and the College Art Association. She is also a New York State Council on the Arts recipient for screenwriting.

Impact of Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas

This work was used as a choice membership incentive for PBS in which is raised three times its fundraising goal and unique for  an art book, went into six reprints. The success of this title paved the way with solid market results for publishers to print more artist monographs about Black artists and collections independent of museum shows within the first two decades of the 21st century. Perhaps the most significant contribution of her publication and workshops, in conjunction with the National Black Fine Art Show (1997-2007), was to define and cultivate the market for Swann Galleries to establish the first African American art auction category within an international arena in 2008.

Once this publication was released national and international museums began to pursue private collections of African American art, including collections of Pamela Joyner & Fred Giuffida, David and Thelma Driskell, Wes & Missy Cochran, Paul Jones, Brenda and Larry Thompson, Bernard & Shirley Kinsey, Harmon and Harriet Kelley, Dr. Walter & Linda Evans, Drs. Carnell and Diane Whitfield Locke, Grant Hill, Elliott Perry and Darryl Walker. The National Gallery of Art decided to create an additional symposium on collecting art, specific to African American art because of the increased presence of educated collectors who either supported Ms. Taha’s initial research or began collecting after reading her book, like Elliott Perry.

References

1. Studio Museum in Harlem photographic and recorded archive for November 1997 panel discussion on Collecting African American Art with art dealer, Peg Alston, Halima Taha and Benny Andrews.