Many Intersections of Art and Sports at Phillips, May 14, 2025 - NY Auction Week

Malcolm Jenkins, Ernie Barnes, and more!

May in New York: the flowers and the contemporary art market both come into bloom. Blockbuster gallery exhibition openings, high-brow art fairs and the marquee auction sales all happen in the first two weeks of the month - there is something for everyone interested in learning about, looking at and generally loving art.

This year, one of the top international auction houses, Phillips, is putting a special emphasis on the intersection of art and sports by featuring a curated selection of six works for which the sale proceeds will benefit the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, as well as mounting four lots made by esteemed artists Norman Rockwell, John Wesley, Ernie Barnes and Marshall M. Fredericks that depict the energy, movement and humanity of athletes captured in the state of play.

Let’s start by discussing Malcolm Jenkins: two-time Super Bowl champion, advocate for educational equity, and dedicated art collector and creative supporter. This is a man who uses his professional athlete platform to make the world a better place through art collecting and advocacy as part of his mission to build legacy and strength in the Black community. With his partnership with Phillips called “We’re In This Together,” Jenkins is accomplishing the following to serve that mission:

• exhibiting exceptional artworks by Black artists with emphasized visibility

  • more people will see these works at Phillips in a span of two weeks than if they had been on view at a gallery for two months

• encouraging collectors to invest in Black artists

  • and not just with their wallets, it’s a cultural investment, too

• building a market and longterm success for Black creatives

  • if the art sells for a high price at public auction, general interest will increase in other artworks by the artist and the private (gallery) market will also grow in tandem, directly benefiting the artist

• applying the funds earned from the sales to educate Black youth, particularly about creative expression, and affording students the opportunity to pursue their artistic endeavors

Below is an excerpt from Jenkins’ curatorial statement and analysis on one of the six artworks in tomorrow’s sale, which can be read in full on the Phillips website HERE.

YoYo Lander, Helen, 2023. Modern & Contemporary Art New York Day Sale

To explore more stories behind the artists featured in this auction, visit Malcolm Jenkins’ Substack, Love, Art & War, where he shares personal reflections on the intersection of culture, creativity, and purpose.

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I also want to highlight the four works that Phillips is offering in their New York May sale this week that directly relate to sports. Read on to see pictures, price estimates, analysis and predictions ahead of the auction happening tomorrow - and check back to see what each sell for (and if I was right or wrong)!

Norman Rockwell
Danny the Freshman, 'With the grass wet and slippery fast fielding was out of the question, and Calkins was home before the ball.', 1915
Oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 20 inches
Est. $100,000 - $150,000

Norman Rockwell is hands down one of the greatest artists to have ever captured 20th century America with brush and paint. Rockwell painted the present work when he was only 21 years old, at which time he was working as a staff artist and art editor for the Boy Scouts of America magazine Boys’ Life. The scene here shows the majestic moment in time during a pickup baseball game in which Calkins, the runner, leaps to home plate, raising a mound of white dust in the process. Meanwhile, the catcher from the other team fields the ball, but is too late to make the play.

George Lucas set the auction record for Rockwell by paying $46 million in 2016 for a work titled Saying Grace, though the next highest price paid at auction for a Rockwell was $22.5 million in 2014 for a majestic, mid-career masterpiece, the 1957 depiction of the Red Sox locker room called The Rookie. A rare, very early, smaller work like this baseball scene is therefore estimated to earn in the lower six figures, a bargain in the Rockwell collecting universe. I predict it will sell for a little over its high estimate of $150k.