From TSU’s halls to a love story of passion for art
Gallery exhibit offers the public a peek into prized African-American collection of works
As the sound of a Barbara Strozzi opera floats through a bright gallery room, the lights go down and Julian Joseph Kyle’s charcoal piece, “Young African Warrior” comes to life.
“Whoa, see that?!” says Andrew Moran, who bought the piece several years ago. “Something different happens when the light is gone. I’m telling you, it’s a powerful piece.”
The effect is palpable. The face of the young warrior acquires a more ominous feeling, his eyes and intentions further devoured by shadow, and the negative space, which includes the outline of a rifle, rushes to the fore. The absent rifle feels like Kyle’s request that the viewer ponder how we let children become soldiers. Kyle painted “Young African Warrior” while at Texas Southern University, and Moran added it to his remarkable private art collection.
“Young African Warrior” is one of about 25 pieces on display through Saturday at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, which is exhibiting The Andy Moran
Collection: John Biggers and Friends for Black History Month. Moran has been collecting for half a century and has built a formidable body of works by African-American artists. The gallery offers the first public opportunity to see several pieces by artists like Kermit Oliver, John Biggers and Carroll Harris Simms.
Now in his 70s, Moran is considering moving some of the works and the timing may be just right, as the market for pieces by African-American artists rises sharply.
Last month Swann Auction Galleries sold nearly 100 works by African-American artists that had been collected by the publisher of Jet and Ebony magazines. Pre-auction estimates quickly were left behind. Moran bid on “Africa: The Source,” by Larry Erskine Thomas that carried an estimate between $1,000 and $1,500. The painting sold for $52,500. Dindga McCannon’s oil on cotton canvas, “The Last Farewell” was estimated between $30,000 and $40,000 and sold for $161,000.
Nigel Freeman, director of Swann’s African-American Fine Art department, says both paintings represented artists whose work hadn’t gone to auction before. “In the past three years, the African-American art market has exploded,” he says. “It has become a big part of the market, with a lot of interest coming from a lot of collectors.”
Gallery owner Vaughan says art history classes are also reflecting a shift in perspective.
“Too many great artists were being overlooked,” she says. “And some of them are the artists you see here. The market for African-American art has traditionally been badly undervalued.”
The result is a greater awareness of 20th-century artists who weren’t always represented in textbooks. On the top end, “Past Times,” a 1997 painting by Kerry James Marshall, sold to music producer and businessman Sean Combs for $21.1 million in 2018.
Moran’s affinity rests with the sorts of works Swann auctioned: largely from the 1960s and ‘70s.
And he grumbles a little about some 21st century trends in conceptual art. His interests are pulled more toward character or story, because for Moran, his collection speaks to his life story, which starts with a love story.
“I met my wife on the steps of Hannah Hall!” Moran’s voice jumps with reverence at the memory. A state historic landmark at TSU, Hannah Hall hosts a collection of student murals, a platform for art created by Biggers, who founded TSU’s art program.
“She said, ‘If you’re going to date me, you need to come to the library every day,’” he says. “So I was there every day before she was.”
Moran studied business; Mary Lou Chester was an art student. When she invited him into her world, it was like a “Wizard of Oz” moment: A door opened and a radiantly colorful world appeared.
“Before that, I’d never heard a discussion of African-American art in school. It wasn’t something anybody even thought about,” he says, diving into his memories.
“The intensity of the students ...”
He lets the thought fade like a brush stroke.
“And the music,” he says, bringing up Simms, the famed sculptor and TSU educator who piped in classical music and opera during class. “The music would play. And he had this small table, and we’d sit around like Buddhist monks and listen to him.”
“Rachel Weeps for Her Children” — a sculpture by Simms — rests in a corner of the gallery. It was Simms’ thesis piece at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in
Michigan, where he was the first black graduate.
Under Biggers’ and Simms’ guidance, TSU’s art program flourished, turning out distinctive and distinguished artists including Oliver, Earlie Hudnall and Moran’s brother, Joe.
“It never occurred to me that 30, 40 years later, they’d become as successful as they have,” Moran says.
Moran and Chester were married in 1971, and relocated soon after to Wall Street “making crazy money at 28 and buying fast cars and trying to kill myself.”
His brother Joe suggested he spend less money on cars and more on art. So Moran bought his first piece, “Untitled,” a 1971 triptych by Oliver. It sits in the gallery along a wall featuring multiple pieces by Oliver, who has enjoyed great renown and visibility recently. The three pieces in the Andy Moran Collection don’t represent the entirety of Oliver’s work that Moran owns. Oliver gifted him and Chester a piece for their wedding.
“That will never be sold,” Moran says. “That one gets passed down to the kids.”
“None of this was ever an investment. … All of this has just been supporting artists who created something that spoke to me.”
Andrew Moran, a collector of prized African-American art
The kids bear mention. The Morans had three sons who grew up in a household patterned after the environment at TSU. The home was also a gallery and a record store.
“Every single wall had art on it,” according to son Jason Moran, an internationally renowned jazz pianist and composer. “There was always music playing. They wanted art around us at all times.”
Moran bought art from outside Houston, but more often he felt the pull from TSU. “I feel like I’m doing some small part to promote one of the finest art schools in the world,” he says. “And it’s right here in Houston, Texas.”
Mary Lou died of leukemia in 2004; she was only 55. When Moran talks about the art, it’s always as if she’s in the room — even when he’s discussing pieces he bought after her death. Her influence lingers, and he still speaks of it with the wonder of when they first met at Hannah Hall.
“None of this was ever an investment,” Moran says. “We just bought things we liked. I didn’t buy the Simms’ sculpture with the anticipation it would sell for more than $100,000. Kermit, I didn’t know he’d become one of the greatest artists of all time. He was just a friend of mine. I just liked watching him paint and listening to him talk.
“All of this has just been supporting artists who created something that spoke to me.”