"Our house was very cluttered," Hill says with a laugh. "I was exposed to it and saw my parents’ love for it."

THE VALUE of African American art, such as Betye Saar’s mixed-media assemblage, Record for Hattie, is rapidly rising. (Photograph by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.)

His evolution into a collector began in 1993, his junior year at Duke, when he moved into his own apartment. To decorate the empty walls, Hill purchased a print by Ernie Barnes for the college student–friendly price of under $100. Since then, Hill has amassed more than 100 pieces in a collection focused on African American masters including Elizabeth Catlett and Romare Bearden. For Hill, collecting these works provides an opportunity to celebrate and understand his African American heritage. "My parents were excited when I bought that first piece in college. They realized there was hope," Hill says. "In the last 10 or 11 years, I’ve become passionate."

Many others—including collectors of all colors, curators addressing gaps in their museums and international buyers—share Hill’s passion. Until recently, collectors had their pick of high-quality works (such as Bearden’s collages from the 1960s) for a few thousand dollars. But they now face steep competition and six-figure price tags.

Recent high-profile auction results illustrate the surge. Lawrence’s The Builders, estimated at $400,000 to $600,000, commanded $2.5 million at Christie’s in May. Last February, Swann Galleries hosted the first major auction dedicated solely to African American fine art. The sale drew more than 300 people—so many that they could not all sit in the auction room. Results totaled $2.3 million, just above the low estimate, and set records at auction for about 20 artists.

ELIZABETH CATLETT'S Nude Torso sold for $120,000 in February at Swann Galleries. (Photograph by Swann Galleries.)

"When I went to the preview for the sale, it was astounding to see the number of people there, and so thrilling," says June Kelly, owner of an eponymous gallery in New York. "It validated the importance of the African American artists . . . and made people feel good that all of these artists, not just Romare and Jacob, are being recognized."

This long-overdue recognition fuels optimism about the prospect of continued gains. However, the very fact that no major auction house had held such a sale until just this year underscores the bias that has long shaped the market for works by African American artists—one that lingers today. The duality inherent in the term "African American" has played out in the careers of many artists. Lawrence, for example, was a central player in the evolution of American modernism. He was also an outsider excluded because of color, contending with the clumsy label "primitive" that white critics applied to his work. Although it brings deserved attention to artists, the category of African American art is also problematic, tacitly implying that the artists only treat narratives of African American experience.

"All those labels are very difficult, like feminist art. I think it is just a convenient label people use because they are interested in separating people, which is a form of prejudice or racism if it’s done by race," artist Betye Saar says. California-based Saar, an octogenarian, has treated a range of subjects, from the overtly political liberation of Aunt Jemima to more holistic, metaphysical themes during her 40-year-plus career. "I balance those as a human being, and I would like the public to be aware of that, that I do more than one kind of imagery."