Interviewed by Najee Dorsey

Black Art in America

Halima Taha on the African American Art Market since the 80’s and the impact of the best selling book Collecting African American Art: works on paper and canvas. Interviewed by Najee Dorsey.

Audio recording of Halima Taha for the Appraisers Society of America 2020 Conference

Creative Conversations host Karen Comer Lowe speaks with Arts Writer and Author, Halima Taha about the value of Black art, its future in a post COVID art world and more.

By Shantay Robinson

Black Art in America

Collecting African American Art is an instructional guide on how to collect, in particular, African American art. Taha organizes the text in a way that makes it accessible to both new and seasoned collectors by offering insider guidance that may not be readily known.

By Shantay Robinson

Black Art in America

When Taha started writing her book in the 1980s, she says there were about six history books and small printings of regional exhibition catalogues available about black art. When her book was rejected, Taha felt like the publishing companies were telling her that she and African American visual culture didn’t have any worth. The myth that black art books would not sell was debunked.

by Ashley Mahoney

“Many of us begin collecting by starting with books and coins and stamps and posters and Matchbox cars, and we do so without much advice or training, but somehow we feel that collecting art is a full-time affair, and it’s really not.”

Taha advocates collecting as a path for what she calls “self-discovery.”