The 2024 Slotin Folk Art Auction highlights African American history through folk art
The Slotin Folk Art Auction is a beloved annual tradition that brings a plethora of folk art objects to the public in an online auction. This year’s auction kicks off on Sat., Feb. 10, and the following day presents a new opportunity for folk art collectors: “The African American Experience Collection.”
Pulled from the personal collection of the late Illinois collector Richard Harris, the exhibition features 156 items that offer unique insight into the experience of Black folk artists throughout the ages. The pieces contextualize Black history through slavery, the Great Migration, Jim Crow South, the Civil Rights Movement, and all the way to the present day Black Lives Matter movement.
“It’s not like a ‘trophy collection,’” says Steve Slotin, who co-owns the auction house with his wife Amy. “It’s a thoughtful, in-depth collection powered by inarguable historical facts. It includes great artifacts that should not be ignored and certainly should not be erased. It’s like preserving a part of history in case someone ever tries to deny it or downplay it or whitewash it.”
Richard Harris was known to the Slotins as a collector who occasionally purchased African American folk art from their annual auction, but behind the scenes he was quietly amassing a museum-worthy collection of Black history artifacts.
Amy Slotin explained the significance of Harris’ collection in the online catalog for this year’s auction. “In this new era of book bans and white-washing of history, Richard put together this collection to keep us from looking away.”
These historical objects that Harris collected include not only Civil Rights leaders such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Angela Davis, but also morbid depictions of the true and horrifying experiences that many African Americans suffered at the hands of colonizers throughout American history.
Included in the collection are a 1789 book that features a fold-out engraving of enslaved people in the bottom of a slave ship and an original silver gelatin print of a lynching that inspired the song “Strange Fruit.”
While the horrifying content of these items is certainly difficult to bear, the Slotins feel it is imperative to understand and face the atrocities that African Americans have endured throughout history.
“The material in the African American Experience Collection is not from ancient times,” explained Steve Slotin. “I was alive during some of this. I was in high school through some of this. These events happened in our lifetimes.”
“The things that politicians are saying and doing now – for instance, trying to change school curriculum so that slavery is treated like it was something like a jobs program – are so ridiculous when compared to real history.”
The auction for the “African American Experience Collection” is presented separately from the traditional Slotin auction on purpose. While they both display folk art, the Slotins felt strongly that they are two entirely separate collections, and therefore they will be presented on subsequent days.
The “Southern Folk Pottery & Quilt Extravaganza” will go live on Sat., Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. and the “African American Experience Collection” will be available on Sun., Feb. 11 at 10 a.m.
