New Orleans Auction Galleries lines up 279 lots for April sale
New Orleans Auction Galleries will bring 279 lots to market in its Fine Art and Design sale on April 23, 2026, at 10 a.m. CDT, with estimates ranging from $2,500 to $25,000. The offering spans modern and contemporary art across two collecting categories, and the selection leans toward works that connect formal experimentation with social history, language, and identity.
Director of Fine Art Michele Carolla describes the sale as one that gathers works tied to some of the most durable concerns in modern and contemporary art: the human figure, sexuality, metaphysical imagery, and political critique. That range is visible in the highlights already previewed, which move from Abstract Expressionism to Mexican modernism and text-based collage.
One of the more accessible entries is Grace Hartigan’s Untitled (1988), estimated at $5,000–$8,000. Hartigan (1922–2008) was a major second-generation Abstract Expressionist whose work is marked by vivid color and forceful brushwork. Her paintings often hover between abstraction and figuration, creating a tension that feels both personal and unresolved.
John McCrady’s Sketch for Political Rally (1935), estimated at $2,500–$4,000, reflects the Regionalist concerns that shaped much of his career. McCrady (1911–1968), who studied with Thomas Hart Benton and Kenneth Hayes Miller, also worked for the Federal Art Project and the Works Progress Administration. His art frequently returned to the lives of ordinary people in the American South.
Floyd Newsum’s Confetti (2011), estimated at $5,000–$8,000, brings a different register. Newsum (1950–2024) used vibrant color and symbolic imagery to explore history, community, and Black identity. Beyond his studio practice, he co-founded Project Row Houses in Houston, an initiative that transformed historic shotgun houses into studios supporting African-American art and creativity.
The sale also includes Peter Sacks’s Book of Assyrian Reliefs (2012–2013), estimated at $15,000–$25,000. Sacks (b. 1950), a longtime professor at Johns Hopkins University and later Harvard University, is known for work that folds written language into painting and collage. José Clemente Orozco’s Masks (ca. 1930), also estimated at $15,000–$25,000, adds a Mexican modernist perspective to the group.
Taken together, the sale suggests a broad but coherent view of the market: one in which collectors can move between canonical postwar painting, socially engaged regionalism, and works that treat text, memory, and belief as visual material.
