Ann Craven
Growth#20
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
6/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
9/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
8/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
2/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
2/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
- Pricing
- Price Ranges by Work Type
- Prints Editions
- $2,500 CHF for editions through JRP|Editions
- Small Moon Paintings 14x14
- $9,030 - $23,220 (recent sales)
- Works on Paper Watercolors
- Lower range, limited auction data
- Large Scale Works 60x48 Plus
- $67,000 - $152,400
- Mid Size Works 24x18 to 40x30
- $23,000 - $84,000
- Liquidity
- Moderate - 10-15 lots annually at major houses; primarily Phillips; steady sell-through rates above 85%
- Comparables
- Positioned between emerging and mid-market contemporary painters; serial conceptual approach similar to market positioning of younger Alex Katz works
- Collector Base
- Contemporary art collectors; emphasis on conceptual painting; strong regional Maine collecting base; institutional collectors active
- Primary Market
- Primary Market Pricing
- Contact Karma (New York) for current pricing; gallery-controlled primary market with selective releases
- Auction History
- Fair Participation
- Art Basel, Frieze, SCOPE Miami Beach, Guadalajara Art Fair (documented participation 2010s)
- Five Year Trajectory
- 2018-2020
- Limited auction activity; prices $10,000-40,000 range for mid-size works
- 2021-2023
- Growing secondary market presence; increasing institutional recognition
- 2024-2025
- Accelerated market activity; record prices; major museum recognition with Maine in America Award
- Auction Performance Summary
- Record Work
- Moon (Silent Pink Light over Saint George's R), 2025, Phillips
- Database Coverage
- Partial data: 2025-present from EGON database; historical data from web searches
- Total Auction Record
- $152,400 (May 2025, Phillips)
- Primary Auction House
- Phillips (dominates recent secondary market activity)
- Recent Average Hammer
- $67,572 (based on 6 sales in EGON database)
- Recent Range 2024 2025
- $9,030 - $152,400
- Sell Through Rate 2025
- 100% (6/6 lots sold)
- Historical Auction Highlights
Work Date Result House Performance Stepping Out With Cherries, 2011 November 2018 $36,250 — Exceeded high estimate by 2x Buck Moon (Pink, Cushing), 2022 February 2024 Sold at Sotheby's (price undisclosed) — — Moon (Silent Pink Light over Saint George's R) May 2025 $152,400 Phillips Record price, exceeded high estimate Moon (Cushing, 7-21-13), 2013 November 2025 $83,850 Phillips Above estimate
Institutional Presence
- Exhibitions
- Group Exhibitions Selected
- Time Wise, Swiss Institute, New York (1996)Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2006)Prague Biennale (2011)Painting Overall, Prague Biennale (2011)Whitney Museum of American Art (various group shows)Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (collection displays)
- Museum Collections
- Tier 1 Museums
Institution Holdings Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York 5 works online in collection Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1 work confirmed in collection Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Confirmed in collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Confirmed in collection New Museum, New York Confirmed in collection Smithsonian Institution 2 works (from museum API data) - Recent Acquisitions
- Farnsworth Art Museum (2022); ongoing institutional collecting activity
- Tier 2 Regional Museums
Institution Holdings Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine Multiple works including Moon (Pink Harvest Moon, Bright Red Dancing Trees, Cushing), 2021 Portland Museum of Art, Maine Works in collection; described as 'cornerstone of contemporary holdings' Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine Confirmed in collection SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah Confirmed; hosted Twelve Moons exhibition 2023 Henry Art Gallery, Seattle Confirmed in collection Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami Confirmed
Career & Biography
- Career
- Career Milestones
Period Event 1990-1998 Worked as studio assistant to Alex Katz, whose influence is evident in her bold application of paint and monumentality of brushstrokes 1995 First moon painting created on Lincolnville Beach, Maine - became signature motif 1997 Rosenthal Foundation Young Painter Prize 1999 Studio fire destroyed nearly all artwork; began practice of repetition and archiving 2002 Best Monographic Show in Commercial Gallery, International Association of Art Critics 2008 First retrospective: Shadows Moon and Abstract Lies, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France 2011 Participated in Prague Biennale 2014 Retrospective: TIME, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France 2018 560-page monograph published by Karma Books 2019 Birds We Know retrospective, Center for Maine Contemporary Art 2023 12 Moons, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah 2025 Maine in America Award (lifetime achievement); three simultaneous museum exhibitions across Maine
- Identity
- Birth Note
- Getty ULAN lists 1969, but multiple authoritative sources (Artnet, MoMA, Ocula, Farnsworth Museum exhibitions) consistently cite 1967. Some early auction records and one source cite 1961, 1968, or 1972, likely data entry errors.
- Personal Life
- Married to artist Peter Halley; inspired by Italian grandmother's vintage ornithology books
- Verified Birth Year
- 1967
- Artistic Context
Artistic Profile
- Visual Language
- Scale Range
- Small plein air studies (14x14 inches) to monumental works (84x60 inches and larger)
- Themes and Subjects
- Signature Motifs
- Moon paintings (14x14 inch studies; larger scaled works)Birds (particularly from vintage ornithology illustrations)Flowers (roses, dahlias, pansies, bleeding hearts)Purple beech tree (from Cushing property)Deer (historical subject, less frequent in recent work)Stripe/band paintings (abstract documentation)Palette paintings (indexical archive)
- Movements and Periods
- Conceptual Framework
- Influenced by Pop Art (repetition, appropriation) but driven by personal, diaristic impulse; Questions originality and authenticity through exact copying; Meditation on time, memory, impermanence; Documentation as artistic practice; Agnes Martin-influenced spiritual repetition; On Kawara-influenced time cataloging
- Techniques and Mediums
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Online Discourse
- Strong critical reception; gallery and museum representation generates consistent coverage; Maine connections create regional cultural significance
- Awards Recognition
- 2025 Maine in America Award (lifetime achievement)
- 2002 Best Monographic Show in Commercial Gallery, International Association of Art Critics
- 1997 Rosenthal Foundation Young Painter Prize
- Critical Positioning
- Recognized as conceptual painter working with serial repetition, time, and memory; positioned between Pop appropriation strategies and meditative abstraction; compared to Sturtevant, Sherrie Levine, On Kawara, Agnes Martin, Alex Katz
- Major Critical Reviews
Date Assessment Author Publication October 2006 Positive - 'fantastic paintings'; compared conceptual approach to Sturtevant and Sherrie Levine; notes mastery of tonality Nick Stillman Artforum January 2012 'Ann Craven paints with heart'; 'serial and obsessive nature hints at framework far from flippant' Review of Southard Reid exhibition Artforum 2008-2009 Positive review of Knoedler exhibition; noted technical skill, compared to Georgia O'Keeffe and Arthur Dove — Frieze October 2025 'Moonlit Meditations' - positive review of Farnsworth exhibition; 'gestural, wet-on-wet paintings that chronicle time' — Hyperallergic June 2025 'Spiritual mantra that intones profound meaning from cycles of life'; compared to Agnes Martin's meditative practice — Boston Art Review
- Publications and Media
- Major Publications Catalogues
Title Year Publisher Ann Craven 2018 Karma Books Ann Craven: Twelve Moons 2023 SCAD Ann Craven: Animals, Birds, Flowers, Moons — Karma Books Birds We Know 2019 CMCA Ann Craven: Pensée 2013 Karma Books and Maccarone Ann Craven: Shadows Moon and Abstract Lies 2009 JRP Ringier and FRAC Champagne-Ardenne
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
- Art Fair Participation
- Art Basel, Frieze, SCOPE Miami Beach, Guadalajara Art Fair (documented 2010s participation)
- Representation
- Gallery Tier Assessment
- Strong Tier 2 primary representation (Karma); previously represented by established galleries (Maccarone); international secondary representation
- Current Primary Representation
- Notes
- Gallery also maintains Craven's church space in Thomaston, Maine for summer exhibitions
- Gallery
- Karma
- Location
- New York (East Village)
- Exhibitions
- Night (2023), Sunset Moon (2018), multiple solo shows
- Relationship
- Primary representation; extensive solo exhibition history
- Significance
- Leading contemporary gallery; strong institutional relationships
- Previous Gallery Representation
Location Exhibitions Gallery New York (Greenwich St) and Los Angeles Hello, Hello, Hello (2016), Flowers (2010), Watercolors (2011) Maccarone London Animals 1999-2017 (2017), Untitled (Palettes) (2015), Summer (2011) Southard Reid Chicago Promise (Birds for Chicago) (2019) Shane Campbell Gallery Los Angeles Flowers (Watercolors) (2022), solo exhibition (2014) Hannah Hoffman Gallery Miami I like Blue (2015) Nina Johnson
- Geographic Reach
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