[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_394":395,"_396":397,"_398":19,"_399":400,"_401":19,"_402":403,"_404":405,"_406":407,"_408":409,"_410":411,"_412":413,"_414":19,"_415":416,"_24":417},"routes/($lang).detail.($maker).($seoName).($auctionCode).$lotOrObjectNumber",{"_9":10,"_11":-5,"_12":13,"_14":15,"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23,"_24":25},"lot",{"_261":58,"_306":307,"_91":92,"_308":309,"_310":311,"_263":264,"_282":286,"_312":313,"_314":106,"_315":108,"_316":317,"_198":151,"_60":61,"_318":319,"_284":76,"_320":195,"_321":19,"_322":19,"_323":19,"_324":325,"_326":327,"_328":19,"_137":19,"_138":123,"_329":19,"_330":19,"_331":332,"_333":123,"_130":123,"_334":19,"_118":119,"_335":336,"_337":338,"_339":340,"_341":342,"_343":344,"_345":346,"_347":348,"_93":94,"_147":349,"_136":123,"_350":-7},"sanityLotElc","auction",{"_91":92,"_93":94,"_95":96,"_97":49,"_98":99,"_100":101,"_102":70,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_107":108,"_109":110,"_111":112,"_113":112,"_114":115,"_116":117,"_118":119,"_120":19,"_121":19,"_122":123,"_124":19,"_125":19,"_126":19,"_127":123,"_128":19,"_129":19,"_130":123,"_131":19,"_132":123,"_133":19,"_134":19,"_135":19,"_136":123,"_137":19,"_138":123,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":144,"_145":146,"_147":148,"_48":149,"_150":151,"_152":153,"_154":155,"_156":157},"messageBanners",[],"title","Danielle McKinney - Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at EDT | Phillips","isPreview",false,"COOKIE_DOMAIN","phillips.com","conditionsOfSalePdfLinkConfig",{"_89":90},"metadata",[26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37],{"_16":83},{"_38":87,"_40":88},{"_38":60,"_40":81},{"_38":86,"_40":83},{"_38":85,"_40":81},{"_38":84,"_40":77},{"_78":82,"_40":83},{"_78":80,"_40":81},{"_78":79,"_40":77},{"_50":51},{"_42":43,"_44":45,"_46":47,"_48":49},{"_38":39,"_40":41},"name","apple-itunes-app","content","app-id=397496674","tagName","link","rel","canonical","href","https://www.phillips.com/detail/%E4%B8%B9%E5%A6%AE%E7%88%BE%EF%BC%8E%E9%BA%A5%E5%A0%85%E5%B0%BC/219168","location","New York","script:ld+json",{"_52":53,"_54":55,"_38":56,"_57":58,"_59":47,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":65,"_66":67},"@context","https://schema.org","@type","Product","Danielle McKinney - Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale","sku","219168","url","description","To Pretend","image",[77],"brand",{"_54":75,"_38":76},"offers",{"_54":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_59":47},"Offer","price",50000,"priceCurrency","USD","availability","https://schema.org/SoldOut","Brand","Danielle McKinney","https://dist.phillips.com/auction-assets/NY010825/219168_001.jpg?fit=cover&optimize=medium&width=1302","property","og:image","og:description","Discover Danielle McKinney's To Pretend featured in Phillips' Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale Auction in New York. Browse, bid, and explore art, design, and luxury at Phillips.","og:title","Danielle McKinney Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale","twitter:image","twitter:description","twitter:title","keywords","Phillips Auctioneers LLC, auction, Lot, Danielle McKinney, New York Auction 13 May 2025","NY080126","https://www.dist.phillips.com/content/web/docs/forms/NY_Conditions_of_Sale_NY080126.pdf","auctionId",1858,"auctionCode","NY010825","auctionName","Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale","auctionLocation","auctionTimezone","America/New_York","auctionStartDateTime","2025-05-13T21:00:00.000000Z","lowestEstimate","highestEstimate",6500000,"auctionStatus","PAST","saleTypeId","Auction","bannerImage","https://dist.phillips.com/auction-assets/NY010825/NY010825.jpg?fit=cover&optimize=medium&width=1302","contactEmail","ejahrling@phillips.com","conditionRequestEmail","auctionDetails","

Monday 12 May 10:00am - 4:00pm
\n
\nPlease note online bidding requires approval and may require additional documentation.
\n
\nIf you would like to bid in person, via absentee, or over the telephone, please reach out to bidsnewyork@phillips.com for registration assistance.
\n
\nAdmission to this auction is by ticket only. Please direct all reservation inquiries to tickets@phillips.com.

\n\n

Global Highlights Tour
\n
\nLondon
\n27 February—7 March
\nPHILLIPS
\n30 Berkeley Square
\nLondon, W1J 6EX (map)
\n
\nLos Angeles
\n22—24 April
\nPHILLIPS
\n9041 Nemo St
\nLos Angeles, CA 90069 (map)
\n

\n\n

View Conditions of Sale >
\n

\n","auctionDetailsSmall","New York Auction 13 May 2025","extraInfo","

Sofía Delgado Beauperthuy
\nSenior Cataloguer, Evening Sale
\nModern & Contemporary Art
\n+1 212 940 1255
\nSDelgado@phillips.com

\n","enableHighlightsView","enableOnlineCatalogue","endSale",true,"hideSoldLots","isChineseTranslate","isExhibition","isLiveAuction","isMixedAuction","makeLive","showAdvanceBidButton","showArtCollector","showBuyButton","showCatalogueDownloadLink","showInquireButton","showPrintCatalogueSection","showRegistrationLink","showSaleOffers","showSoldPrice","lots",[225,226,227,228,229,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,253,254,255,256,257,258,259,260],"viewing",{"_205":206,"_207":208,"_48":209,"_210":211},"articles",[179],"departments",[172],"auctionCurrency",{"_169":72,"_170":171},{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},"totalLotCount",36,"auctionMobilityAuctionRowId","1-A4J1CY","auctionUrl","https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY010825","auctionResultsFile","https://www.dist.phillips.com/content/web/auction-results/auctionResultsFile_NY010825.pdf","countryName","United States","countryCode","US","line1","432 Park Avenue","city","postCode","10022","province","NY","currencyCode","currencySign","$",{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},"departmentId",1,"departmentName","Contemporary","departmentDisplayName","Modern & Contemporary Art",{"_180":181,"_182":178,"_183":184,"_16":185,"_186":187,"_188":189,"_190":191,"_192":193,"_194":195,"_196":197,"_198":195,"_199":200,"_201":202,"_203":204},"coverUrl","https://flockler.com/thumbs/sites/889/nishimura-eve-1de359b3-f808-449b-8c6b-4a9ba8873079_s600x0.jpg","section","summary","From emerging names to timely rediscoveries, discover what’s on our radar ahead of our spring Modern & Contemporary Art auctions. ","Artists to Watch: New York","body","

Yu Nishimura, marin drive (after the rain), 2017. Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York.

\n\n

Yu Nishimura

\n\n

\n\n

Yu Nishimura, lovers, 2020. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York.

\n\n

Japanese artist Yu Nishimura’s captivating works blend traditional oil and tempera techniques with the visual traits of postwar Japanese photography and street photography. Throughout his works, we frequently see the blurred, hazy impressions of afterimages or double exposures that add unique emotional resonance to everyday scenes. This effect is clearly seen in marin drive (after the rain), which explores the relationship between perception and memory. By contrast, in his 2020 work lovers, we see the artist approach a shared sense of interiority between two figures, the multiple impressions of their eyes creating a sense of motion at rest. All told, his works often show us how the pleasure of looking can enhance the experience of a life lived slowly, so it’s no surprise that art lovers around the globe have taken notice.

\n\n

Born in 1982 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, where he continues to live and work today, Nishimura is rapidly gaining momentum. His first solo exhibition in the United States, Yu Nishimura: Clearing Unfolds, is currently on view at the 69th Street location of David Zwirner Gallery, New York. His recent solo exhibitions have been held at Sadie Coles HQ, London, and ARCH, Athens, among many others. His work is also held in several institutional collections around the globe, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Long Museum, Shanghai; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

\n\n

Jack Whitten

\n\n

\n\n

Jack Whitten, Her Majesty’s Angle, 1980. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York.

\n\n

Known for his experimental practice and approach to painting as an art form, Jack Whitten situated abstraction within the legacy of African American history. His work during the 1980s, “driven by his proclivity towards the cosmic and quantum,” engaged with painting as a sculptural composition, often manipulating a work’s dimension, depth, and plane to explore the dynamism of abstraction on a nearly computational scale.

\n\n

Executed in 1980, Her Majesty’s Angle depicts a rainbow of geometric shapes and markings against a black vacuum — the otherworldly precision of the dashed lines, rippling circles, and trapezoidal center made human by Whitten’s raised triangles and the honeycomb panel texture of the canvas. Whitten’s characteristic balance between the ordinary and the sublime feels especially prescient in hindsight: at the dawn of the digital age, with the frictionless kaleidoscope of all to come, Whitten’s protrusive simplicity makes the artist’s presence a material reality, an immediacy — something spotted on the radar, and coming right for us. Jack Whitten: The Messenger, on view through 2 August at MoMA, New York, highlights the artist’s commitment to activism through non-representational art and his intersections with race, music, and technology as new forms of seeing. “Whitten spoke, with wishful optimism, of wanting to be an artist-citizen of the world,” the New York Times writes of the retrospective and Whitten’s desire for “only life,” adding that “life is what this great show of his fantastically inventive art is filled with.”

\n\n

Firelei Báez

\n\n

\n\n

Firelei Báez, Untitled, 2017. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York.

\n\n

Firelei Báez’s practice reorients the Western art-historical canon through the lived experiences of those it never centered. The artist often explores traditional visual elements in ways that challenge the racial and class structures of their origins and subsequent ascension into artistic doctrine. In 2017’s Untitled, we see an assemblage of colors that recall the 19th century icons today considered “high” art. In the present work’s flowing green and blue undercurrent, one can be transported to Monet’s Water Lilies, whose ubiquitous palette acts as almost a skeleton key to the work’s inquiry. The tranquil scene is made active by splashes of orange, pink, and yellow, which flow throughout like submerged strands of hair and bring a mythical exchange to Báez’s confrontations with history, realizing a Caribbean vitality while establishing a new locus for action. “I tend to work hypersymbolically,” says the artist. “I know what every single element means for me.”

\n\n

Marina Adams

\n\n

\n\n

Marina Adams, Stone Cold Fox, 2022. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York.

\n\n

For Marina Adams, color provides an opportunity to find a rhythm in an otherwise guideless environment. “Meaning and intellect in abstract art can be difficult to locate,” the artist notes, “I use pattern and color to create the voice. And I use structure and form to channel it.” Movement then becomes the site of interaction between figuration and gesture, with graphic shapes, each carrying their own visual weight, creating a flowing aggregate work.

\n\n

There is an almost mosaic quality to Stone Cold Fox, with its column of diamond-shaped green and blue tessellating over a deep purple base and building high and out of our reach. At each side the white tracts act more as bonding agents than negative space — an interplay with Matisse wherein each section of the image plays a part in its overall motion.

\n\n

Uman

\n\n

\n\n

Uman, The Shaman, 2021. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York.

\n\n

Through a swirl of colors, reflections, and chant-like repetitions, Uman’s The Shaman undulates with an energy that traverses the physical and spiritual realms, exploring abstraction, the figure, and the self. “I think everything I do now is a self-portrait in different ways,” the artist explains. “Even my abstract paintings, mythical in nature, are self-portraits. I love drama, and so I depict myself with several mouths, and several eyes, just like a creature.”

\n\n

There’s an appealing cultural and gender fluidity in the self-taught multicultural artist’s works. They are as likely to take inspiration from Yayoi Kusama, Keith Haring, or Henri Matisse as they are from her memories of the kaleidoscopic Islamic visual culture of her East African upbringing. Looking closer at The Shaman — which was included in the lauded 2021 exhibition Uman: I hope this finds u well at Fierman, New York — we discover that the figure is at once a mystic and muse, male and female, self-portrait and icon, and ultimately, both the seer and the seen.

\n\n

Born in Somalia and raised in Kenya, Uman undertook rigorous study of traditional calligraphy as a child, eventually discovering her love of Western art while visiting family in Europe. She settled in New York City following a stint in Denmark, and now maintains her studio upstate. Represented by Hauser and Wirth in equal partnership with Nicola Vassell Gallery, Uman has presented solo exhibitions at Nicola Vassell, New York; Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece; Fierman, New York; Anne De Villepoix, Paris; and White Columns, New York — in addition to several group exhibitions.

\n\n

Richard Hunt

\n\n

\n\n

Richard Hunt, Life Force (5472), 2007. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York.

\n\n

Born in 1935 on the South Side of Chicago, Richard Hunt was the first Black sculptor to have a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Where others saw metals as industrial, man-made materials, Hunt was quick to point out that they emerge from the earth. Holding a lifelong interest in biological science and the natural world, Hunt’s sculptures result from an alchemy that turned what were frequently scrap metals into imaginative biomorphic forms, the artist once explaining that his intention was “to develop the kind of forms nature might create if only heat and steel were available to her.” Life Force (5472) is a defining example of the artist’s work, its enticing curvilinear bronze form negotiating the tensions between natural growth and industrial production, tangible forms and intangible ideas.

\n\n

Hunt, who passed in 2023, has long been included in prominent institutional collections, but his works take on a newfound significance today as global culture continues to wrestle with the impacts of marginalization and climate change. White Cube Gallery now represents the artist’s estate and presented the lauded exhibition Richard Hunt: Early Masterworks last year in New York. Today, the artist’s first major posthumous retrospective is on view at White Cube London through June. His works are also in the permanent collections of notable institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

\n\n

Joan Snyder

\n\n

\n\n

Joan Snyder, OH Elena, 2020. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York.

\n\n

Joan Snyder’s autobiographical style connects personal and communal experiences through symbol, gesture, text, and expression. A touching personal tribute to the artist’s longtime friend and gallerist Elena Zhang, the work achieves a universal feeling of remembrance and celebration. OH Elena combines a floral arrangement surrounding a central, radiating bloom with blended text at the top and bottom of the canvas. As the bright yellow Ohs provide light to the garden below them, the colors root and seep downward into Elena, the substrate which provides vibrancy to all above it.

\n\n

Snyder, now 85, has recently seen substantial performance at auction, with many of her large-scale works achieving well above presale estimates. This surge reflects interest in both her ongoing artistic practice and a renewed appreciation for her earlier work, which together highlight a lifetime of feminist painting. Recent shows include CANADA in New York and Thaddaeus Ropac in London (both of whom jointly represent the artist in the US and UK, respectively). The latter hosted “the most comprehensive presentation of her work in Europe to date” last fall into early this year, and her work has been featured in museum shows over the past few years at Tate London, MFA Boston, and more.

\n\n

Soumya Netrabile

\n\n

Soumya Netrabile, The Meadow, 2021. Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York.

\n\n

Soumya Netrabile’s large-scale works envelop the viewer in the hazy atmosphere of nature at transitory moments — sunsets, the dewy stillness of dawn, or those moments just before a storm. They are physical expressions of sensory memory, often gleaned from the forest preserve near her Chicago home. On daily explorations, she focuses on the impressions nature leaves on each of her senses. The resulting works, like 2021’s The Meadow, seem to impart the scent and sound of an environment as much as the sight of it. They’re experiential and refined, with the misty quality of a memory or a dream, where one loses grasp of the difference between touch and sight, sound and scent.

\n\n

Born in India and emigrating to Chicago with her family when she was seven, Netrabile first studied engineering, working in the field for a few years to support herself through art school. She graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996 and continued to refine her practice over the next several years. Her works gained momentum in 2020, and a spate of recent exhibitions and fair presentations has pushed her into the limelight.

\n\n

Discover More from Modern & Contemporary Art >

\n\n

Recommended Reading

\n\n

We’re In This Together >

\n\n

\n","publishDate","2025-04-24T18:32:06.000000Z","authorCredit","Jesse Limbacher","coverPosX",50,"coverPosY",0,"articleUrl","https://www.phillips.com/article/157839650/artists-to-watch-modern-contemporary-art-auction-new-york","displayOrder","auctionEditorialID",3017,"editorialID",4934,"flocklerID",157839650,"startDateTime","2025-05-03T04:00:00.000000Z","endDateTime","2025-05-13T04:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},"hourRanges",[212,213],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":224},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":220},"dayEnd","Sunday","dayStart","startTime","12:00:00","endTime","17:00:00","Saturday","Monday","10:00:00","18:00:00",{"_261":305,"_263":264},{"_261":304,"_263":264},{"_261":303,"_263":264},{"_261":302,"_263":264},{"_261":301,"_263":264},{"_261":300,"_263":264},{"_261":299,"_263":264},{"_261":298,"_263":264},{"_261":297,"_263":264},{"_261":296,"_263":264},{"_261":295,"_263":264},{"_261":294,"_263":264},{"_261":293,"_263":264},{"_261":292,"_263":264},{"_261":291,"_263":264},{"_261":290,"_263":264},{"_261":287,"_263":264,"_282":288,"_284":289},{"_261":58,"_263":264,"_282":286,"_284":76},{"_261":281,"_263":264,"_282":283,"_284":285},{"_261":280,"_263":264},{"_261":279,"_263":264},{"_261":278,"_263":264},{"_261":277,"_263":264},{"_261":276,"_263":264},{"_261":275,"_263":264},{"_261":274,"_263":264},{"_261":273,"_263":264},{"_261":272,"_263":264},{"_261":271,"_263":264},{"_261":270,"_263":264},{"_261":269,"_263":264},{"_261":268,"_263":264},{"_261":267,"_263":264},{"_261":266,"_263":264},{"_261":265,"_263":264},{"_261":262,"_263":264},"objectNumber","219151","lotType","AuctionLot","212280","214564","212806","218248","218830","213866","215262","216011","217448","214563","216466","218503","219366","215745","219475","199285","219425","lotNumberFull","20","makerName","Ed Ruscha","19","214668","18","Barbara Hepworth","217778","211273","215008","217723","216841","218533","213189","219416","214831","216012","217817","219350","215049","218699","215014","218087","lotNumber",19,"estimate",{"_366":367,"_368":369},"detailLink","https://www.phillips.com/detail/danielle-mckinney/219168","lotStatus","Sold","parentAuctionStatus","parentAuctionType","auctionMobilityLotRowId","1-AIV34F","makerId",25487,"executedBidCount","currentlyEligibleForBids","priorityBiddingEnabled","reserveMet","startBidAmount",35000,"soldPrice",120650,"isNoReserve","is360View","isNoLot","videoSource","https://players.brightcove.net/6415663453001/51tsefL9J_default/index.html?videoId=6372406715112","showSoldLabel","isPremiumLot","artistInscription","signed and dated \"D. McKinney 2020\" on the reverse","dimensions","12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)","medium","acrylic on canvas","sigEdtMan","Painted in 2020, in the United States.","provenance","Fortnight Institute, New York\r\nPrivate Collection, New York (acquired from the above) \r\nVenus Over Manhattan, New York\r\nPrivate Collection, New York\r\nAcquired from the above by the present owner","mainImagePath","https://dist.phillips.com/auction-assets/NY010825/219168_001.jpg","enhancedLotComponents",[351],{"_169":72,"_170":171},"additionalImagePaths",{"_352":123,"_353":354,"_355":356,"_16":357,"_358":359},"isActive","componentType","RichText","componentId",21287,"DETAIL-HEADER-DISABLED 92651","componentItems",[360],{"_352":123,"_361":362,"_363":364,"_365":-7},"componentItemId",25071,"htmlCaption","

“Sometimes [my subjects] are me. Sometimes they're an emotion I'm feeling. Sometimes they're a story that my best friend told me. Sometimes it's an observation of a feeling inside me that I'm processing.”
\n—Danielle McKinney

\n\n

\nIn To Pretend, 2020 Danielle McKinney captures a moment of stillness that pulses with quiet intensity. A solitary woman stands before a muted interior, her hands gently clasping a wedge of fruit. She wears a blue-and-white striped shirt rendered in tight, rhythmic lines, contrasting the looser brushwork of the surrounding scene. Her expression is unreadable—composed but distant—as though her gaze is turned inward. As with much of McKinney’s work, the painting occupies a space between the intimate and the symbolic, realism and reverie. Marking the first work by McKinney to appear at auction at Phillips—and only the fourth to be publicly offered—To Pretend distills the quiet beauty of everyday life while exemplifying the artist’s larger project: reframing art historical narratives through images that center Black womanhood, interiority, and self-possession.
\n

\n\n

\"\" — Henri Matisse, *Woman in Blue*, 1937. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. John Wintersteen, 1956, 1956-23-1

\n\n

The figure emerges from a rich ground of black gesso, a foundational layer McKinney has described as evoking the experience of being “in the dark room again,” referencing her background in photography.ⁱ This initial darkness is not just technical—it is metaphorical. It speaks to the subterranean work of image-making, of constructing visibility from shadows, of conjuring presence from interiority. McKninney’s practice, an inversion of the Western painting tradition that starts from white ground and builds toward form through light, places her within a lineage of artists such as Kerry James Marshall, who has also employed black surfaces as a strategy to center Black figures within a visual language that historically excluded them. In To Pretend, light is brought out from this darkness, lending her subjects a luminous dimensionality that echoes the chiaroscuro of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Francisco de Zurbarán, while refusing their historical marginalization of Black bodies.
\n

\n\n

\"\" — Paula Modersohn-Becker, *Self-Portrait with Two Flowers in Her Raised Left Hand*, 1907. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY

\n\n

The composition recalls the formal clarity of early modernist portraiture—Henri Matisse’s use of bold, patterned clothing, or the introspective women of Paula Modersohn-Becker—but McKinney reorients these influences through a contemporary lens, centering a Black female figure steeped in comfortable languidity, her stillness charged with quiet defiance. She subverts the conventions of Matisse’s reclining women by transforming the trope of decorative repose into a declaration of selfhood, where leisure is not a projection of the artist’s desire but a site of autonomy and inward life. In To Pretend, that visual language is reclaimed to speak directly to histories of racialized representation—most notably through the vividly painted watermelon, rendered in high-chroma pink and green. Long burdened by caricature in American visual culture, the fruit becomes, in McKinney’s hands, neither satire nor symbol, but a humble object reinserted into a scene of dignity, care, and the quiet pleasure of daily ritual.
\n
\n
\n

\n\n

“It’s important for me to leave room for people to build their own story… The figure always comes first and then I create the interior around her”
\n—Danielle McKinney

\n\n

\nThe figure’s eyes are slightly off-center, resisting direct engagement, as though absorbed in a private world to which we are not granted full access. Like many of McKinney’s painted subjects, she is both here and elsewhere—grounded in her domestic surroundings, but subtly detached. Echoes of Johannes Vermeer’s contemplative domestic scenes can be felt in the muted palette of the background and the focus on a woman captured mid-thought. Yet McKinney shifts the center of gravity: the mirror behind the subject, a classic device of self-reflection and symbolic doubling in Western painting, offers no reflection. The absence calls attention to what traditional representation has historically erased—the interior life of Black women.
\n

\n\n

\"\" — Johannes Vermeer, *Woman Reading a Letter*, ca. 1663. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Image: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SK-C-251

\n\n

\nMcKinney’s paintings are not portraits of specific individuals, yet they are shaped in part by her own experience of exclusion. She collects vintage magazines, sourced on eBay and in thrift stores, with a particular focus on Eisenhower-era decorating titles, Vogue, Ebony, and 1970s issues of Playboy. When a pose or interior catches her eye, she cuts it out and uses it as a template, creating collages that serve as the foundation for her paintings. “I never saw myself in a magazine,” she has said.ⁱⁱ “Meaning, a Black woman with Black skin.”ⁱⁱⁱ Her paintings are, in her words, “my way to show that”—a simple proposition, yet a radical one.^iv Crucially, McKinney’s subjects are not staged for consumption; they remain self-possessed, their gaze inward or elsewhere, withholding access. The title “To Pretend” complicates any fixed reading, suggesting the performative nature of visibility or the interior fictions we create to survive. “It’s important for me to leave room for people to build their own story,” McKinney has said, underscoring the openness at the heart of her work.^v In this quiet moment of looking and being looked at, McKinney conjures a space where history, identity, and imagination quietly coalesce.
\n
\n
\n

\n\n

“They just want to be in their own little worlds. I guess that’s me, in a way.”
\n—Danielle McKinney

\n\n

\nThroughout her work, McKinney returns to the Black female figure not as symbol or stereotype, but as the protagonist of a rich, unseen interiority. While McKinney engages with race as a central theme, her focus on the inner lives of Black women—their stillness, introspection, and everyday rituals—pushes against an art historical tradition that has long reserved such depictions for white subjects. McKinney affirms her figures’ right to inhabit space on their own terms—unhurried, unbothered, and unapologetically at rest. “I can show us taking a nap and smoking a cigarette, butt naked on a sofa at the end of the day with red fingernail polish,” she said.^vi “I can show us [being] normal.”^vii
\n
\nMcKinney has spoken about her practice as one that gives her subjects the space “to simply exist.” The painting’s calm, compact dimensions intensify this ethos. Her paintings challenge the viewer not to look at, but to sit with—to accompany her subjects in moments of solitude, softness, reflection. To Pretend is neither ironic nor didactic; it is devotional, a compact but profound meditation on visibility, ritual, and the poetry of the mundane.

\n\n

ⁱ Danielle Mckinney quoted in Steph Eckardt, “In the Studio with Danielle Mckinney, the Artist Bringing Intimate Moments to Life,” W Magazine, September 28 2022, online.
\nⁱⁱ Danielle McKinney, quoted in M. H. Miller, “Danielle Mckinney Never Thought Her Paintings Would Be Seen Like This,” New York Times, February 17 2024, online.
\nⁱⁱⁱ Ibid.
\n^ivIbid.
\n^vDanielle McKinney, quoted in Annabel Keenan, “Danielle Mckinney Embraces the Golden Hour,” Cultured Magazine, October 12 2022, online.
\n^vi Danielle McKinney, quoted in M. H. Miller, “Danielle Mckinney Never Thought Her Paintings Would Be Seen Like This,” New York Times, February 17 2024, online.
\n^vii Ibid.

\n","imageUrl","mainEstimate",{"_169":72,"_376":171,"_378":382,"_380":70},"otherEstimates",[370,371,372,373,374],{"_169":390,"_376":391,"_378":392,"_380":393},{"_169":387,"_376":387,"_378":388,"_380":389},{"_169":383,"_376":384,"_378":385,"_380":386},{"_169":72,"_376":171,"_378":382,"_380":70},{"_169":375,"_376":377,"_378":379,"_380":381},"HKD","currencySymbol","HK$","highEstimate",543000,"lowEstimate",388000,70000,"EUR","€",61700,44100,"CHF",57700,41200,"GBP","£",52600,37600,"ENV",{"_713":714,"_715":716,"_717":718,"_719":720,"_721":722,"_723":724,"_725":726,"_727":728,"_729":730,"_20":21,"_731":-7,"_732":733,"_734":735,"_736":123,"_737":733,"_738":123,"_739":19,"_740":741,"_742":743,"_744":123,"_745":746,"_747":748,"_749":750,"_751":743,"_752":753},"locale","en","sanityPreview","messageBannerData","","hideSiteFurniture","upcomingAuctions",[481,482,483,484,485,486,487,488,489,490],"flagHash","c7d5981dbdecb15030699c60e86d4cf5698faed1d859d19116bf01cf45ab6736","serverKey","d9beaed0-dcdf-4d2d-89e8-272e9dd2eeb3","priorityBiddingConfig",{"_470":471,"_472":473,"_474":123,"_475":476},"soldPriceConfig",{"_461":462,"_463":464,"_465":464,"_466":326,"_467":326,"_468":326,"_469":462},"imagePathConfig",{"_456":457,"_458":457,"_459":457,"_460":457},"enableHandbagsDepartmentPage","globalJsonLd",{"_52":53,"_421":422},[418,419],{"_42":43,"_44":45,"_46":47},{"_38":39,"_40":420},"app-id=6742061430","@graph",[423,424],{"_52":53,"_54":444,"_445":446,"_38":447,"_59":443,"_448":449,"_450":451},{"_52":53,"_54":425,"_426":427},"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement",[428,429,430,431],{"_54":432,"_433":174,"_38":442,"_435":443},{"_54":432,"_433":439,"_38":440,"_435":441},{"_54":432,"_433":436,"_38":437,"_435":438},{"_54":432,"_433":434,"_38":58,"_435":47},"ListItem","position",4,"item",3,"丹妮爾．麥堅尼","https://www.phillips.com/detail/%E4%B8%B9%E5%A6%AE%E7%88%BE%EF%BC%8E%E9%BA%A5%E5%A0%85%E5%B0%BC",2,"Detail","https://www.phillips.com/detail","Home","https://www.phillips.com","Organization","@id","https://www.phillips.com/#organization","Phillips","foundingDate","1796","sameAs",[452,453,454,455],"https://www.instagram.com/phillipsauction/","https://www.linkedin.com/company/phillips/","https://www.facebook.com/phillipsauction/","https://x.com/phillipsauction","highlightsSource","fastly","lotImagesSource","saleBannersSource","ELCsSource","saleroomResultsRail","hammerPrice","accountBids","hammerPricePlusBP","accountFavorites","pdpBidForm","pdpDetailsRail","plpLotCard","saleroomBidStream","priorityBidColors",{"_477":478,"_479":480},"uiMode","priority","enabled","floorAmount","priority-activated","activated","#00CC3A","default","#6F4EEA",{"_93":698,"_91":699,"_95":533,"_97":493,"_105":538,"_98":495,"_154":700,"_100":701,"_145":702,"_127":123,"_109":703,"_136":123,"_141":704,"_48":705},{"_93":671,"_91":672,"_95":673,"_97":620,"_105":538,"_98":621,"_154":674,"_100":675,"_520":676,"_145":677,"_127":123,"_109":678,"_136":123,"_141":679,"_545":680,"_48":681},{"_93":642,"_91":643,"_95":644,"_97":620,"_105":538,"_98":621,"_154":645,"_100":646,"_145":647,"_127":123,"_109":648,"_136":123,"_141":649,"_545":650,"_48":651},{"_93":617,"_91":618,"_95":619,"_97":620,"_105":494,"_98":621,"_154":622,"_100":623,"_520":624,"_145":625,"_127":19,"_109":626,"_136":123,"_141":627},{"_93":603,"_91":604,"_95":96,"_97":49,"_105":538,"_98":99,"_154":605,"_100":606,"_145":607,"_127":123,"_109":608,"_136":123,"_141":609,"_48":610},{"_93":589,"_91":590,"_95":591,"_97":49,"_105":538,"_98":99,"_154":592,"_100":593,"_145":594,"_127":123,"_109":595,"_136":123,"_141":596,"_48":597},{"_93":573,"_91":574,"_95":575,"_97":49,"_105":538,"_98":99,"_154":576,"_100":577,"_145":578,"_127":123,"_109":579,"_136":123,"_141":580,"_48":581},{"_93":535,"_91":536,"_95":537,"_97":516,"_105":538,"_98":517,"_154":539,"_100":540,"_520":541,"_145":542,"_127":123,"_109":543,"_136":123,"_141":544,"_545":546,"_48":547},{"_93":513,"_91":514,"_95":515,"_97":516,"_105":494,"_98":517,"_154":518,"_100":519,"_520":521,"_145":522,"_127":19,"_109":523,"_136":19},{"_93":491,"_91":492,"_95":178,"_97":493,"_105":494,"_98":495,"_154":496,"_100":497,"_145":498,"_127":123,"_109":499,"_136":19,"_141":500,"_48":501},"UK010926",2051,"London","HIGHLIGHTS_ONLY","Europe/London","https://www.phillips.com/auction/UK010926","2026-12-03T13:00:00.000000Z",[512],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/UK010926/UK010926.jpg",{"_205":506,"_207":507,"_48":508,"_210":509},{"_158":502,"_160":503,"_162":504,"_164":493,"_165":505},"United Kingdom","GB","30 Berkeley Square","W1J 6EX","2026-11-26T00:00:00.000000Z","2026-12-03T00:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":502,"_160":503,"_162":504,"_164":493,"_165":505},[510,511],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":224},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":224},{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},"HK011026",2133,"Modern & Contemporary Art: Editions, Photographs, & Design Online Auction, Hong Kong","Hong Kong","Asia/Hong_Kong","https://www.phillips.com/auction/HK011026","2026-11-23T04:00:00.000000Z","auctionEndDateTime","2026-12-01T06:00:00.000000Z",[524,525,526,527,528],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/HK011026/HK011026.jpg",{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},{"_173":439,"_175":534,"_177":534},{"_173":436,"_175":533,"_177":533},{"_173":531,"_175":532,"_177":532},{"_173":529,"_175":530,"_177":530},24,"Online",5,"Editions","Design","Photographs","HK080426",1984,"The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XXIII","READY","https://www.phillips.com/auction/HK080426","2026-11-21T03:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-22T10:00:00.000000Z",[570],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/HK080426/HK080426.jpg",{"_205":564,"_207":565,"_48":566,"_210":567},"sessions",[555,556],{"_158":516,"_160":548,"_162":549,"_550":551,"_552":553,"_164":554},"HK","G/F, WKCDA Tower","line2","West Kowloon Cultural District","line3","No. 8 Austin Road West","Kowloon",{"_205":540,"_558":562,"_560":563},{"_205":557,"_558":559,"_560":561},"2026-11-22T03:00:00.000000Z","lotNumberStart","959","lotNumberEnd","1129","801","958","2026-11-15T16:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-21T16:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":516,"_160":548,"_162":549,"_550":551,"_552":553,"_164":554},[568],{"_214":215,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":569},"19:00:00",{"_173":571,"_175":572,"_177":572},12,"Watches","NY011626",2090,"Modern & Contemporary Art: Afternoon Session","https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY011626","2026-11-19T19:00:00.000000Z",[588],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/NY011626/NY011626.jpg",{"_205":582,"_207":583,"_48":584,"_210":585},{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},"2026-11-07T05:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-18T05:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},[586,587],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":220},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":220},{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},"NY011526",2021,"Modern & Contemporary Art: Morning Session","https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY011526","2026-11-19T15:00:00.000000Z",[602],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/NY011526/NY011526.jpg",{"_205":582,"_207":583,"_48":598,"_210":599},{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},[600,601],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":220},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":220},{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},"NY010726",2043,"https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY010726","2026-11-17T21:30:00.000000Z",[616],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/NY010726/NY010726.jpg",{"_205":582,"_207":611,"_48":612,"_210":613},{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},"2026-11-17T05:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":159,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_164":49,"_165":166,"_167":168},[614,615],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":220},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":220},{"_173":174,"_175":176,"_177":178},"CH060326",2088,"Geneva Jewels: Online Auction","Geneva","Europe/Zurich","https://www.phillips.com/auction/CH060326","2026-11-04T09:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-12T13:00:00.000000Z",[638,639],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/CH060326/CH060326.jpg",{"_205":628,"_207":629,"_210":630},"2026-11-03T23:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-11T23:00:00.000000Z",[631,632,633],{"_214":636,"_216":637,"_217":223,"_219":569},{"_214":215,"_216":221,"_217":634,"_219":569},{"_214":222,"_216":222,"_217":634,"_219":635},"09:00:00","13:00:00","Friday","Wednesday",{"_173":434,"_175":640,"_177":641},{"_173":529,"_175":530,"_177":530},"Jewelry","Jewels","CH060426",2089,"The Geneva Jewels Auction: VII","https://www.phillips.com/auction/CH060426","2026-11-09T14:00:00.000000Z",[670],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/CH060426/CH060426.jpg",{"_205":628,"_207":664,"_48":665,"_210":666},[657,658],{"_158":652,"_160":653,"_162":654,"_550":655,"_164":620,"_165":656},"Switzerland","CH","Hôtel Président","Quai Wilson 47","1201",{"_205":646,"_558":662,"_560":663},{"_205":659,"_558":660,"_560":661},"2026-11-09T15:30:00.000000Z","330","426","301","329","2026-11-08T23:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":652,"_160":653,"_162":654,"_550":655,"_164":620,"_165":656},[667,668,669],{"_214":636,"_216":637,"_217":223,"_219":569},{"_214":215,"_216":221,"_217":634,"_219":569},{"_214":222,"_216":222,"_217":634,"_219":218},{"_173":434,"_175":640,"_177":641},"CH080426",1988,"The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV","https://www.phillips.com/auction/CH080426","2026-11-07T13:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-08T19:00:00.000000Z",[697],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/CH080426/CH080426.jpg",{"_205":628,"_207":691,"_48":692,"_210":693},[684,685],{"_158":652,"_160":653,"_162":682,"_550":655,"_164":620,"_165":683},"Hotel President Wilson","1211",{"_205":675,"_558":689,"_560":690},{"_205":686,"_558":687,"_560":688},"2026-11-08T13:00:00.000000Z","108","221","1","107","2026-11-07T23:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":652,"_160":653,"_162":682,"_550":655,"_164":620,"_165":683},[694,695,696],{"_214":636,"_216":637,"_217":223,"_219":569},{"_214":221,"_216":221,"_217":634,"_219":569},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":634,"_219":635},{"_173":571,"_175":572,"_177":572},"UK050226",2019,"https://www.phillips.com/auction/UK050226","2026-11-04T14:00:00.000000Z",[712],"https://assets.phillips.com/image/upload/t_Website_AuctionPageHero/v1/auctions/UK050226/UK050226.jpg",{"_205":706,"_207":707,"_48":708,"_210":709},{"_158":502,"_160":503,"_162":504,"_164":493,"_165":505},"2026-10-29T00:00:00.000000Z","2026-11-04T00:00:00.000000Z",{"_158":502,"_160":503,"_162":504,"_164":493,"_165":505},[710,711],{"_214":221,"_216":222,"_217":223,"_219":224},{"_214":215,"_216":215,"_217":218,"_219":224},{"_173":436,"_175":533,"_177":533},"MODE","production","websocketConfig",{"_59":766,"_767":768,"_769":770},"authConfig",{"_761":762,"_763":764,"_765":714},"ONE_TRUST_SCRIPT_ID","da236391-c57c-40f8-a671-294df558fa4c","GLOBAL_CDN_URL","https://www.dist.phillips.com/content/web/","GLOBAL_ASSET_URL","https://www.dist.phillips.com/static-assets/","THEOPLAYER_LICENSE_KEY","sZP7IYe6T6P60ohoIDC_3OzzTufcFSar0oB-CDIlImkeISbzTDaiCLbcIQB6FOPlUY3zWokgbgjNIOf9flRr3DCLCo0cFSeZIS5-3u1e3mk63uI1FS0iISI60Kht3u5rIOfVfK4_bQgZCYxNWoryIQXzImf90Sb_3SeZ3u5i0u5i0Oi6Io4pIYP1UQgqWgjeCYxgflEc3LhZ0lhc3uCt3uRrFOPeWok1dDrLYtA1Ioh6TgV6v6fVfKcqCoXVdQjLUOfVfGxEIDjiWQXrIYfpCoj-fgzVfKxqWDXNWG3ybojkbK3gflNWf6E6FOPVWo31WQ1qbta6FOPzdQ4qbQc1sD4ZFK3qWmPUFOPLIQ-LflNWfK1zWDikfgzVfG3gWKxydDkibK4LbogqW6f9UwPkImi6IK41Uw4ZIY06Tg-Uya","DOLBY_STREAMING_ACCOUNT_ID","BYwFZf","LAUNCHDARKLY_CLIENT_SIDE_ID","68aefc0f2547850ac0505b8d","POLLING_INTERVAL","FETCH_TIMEOUT",5000,"WS_REFRESH_JITTER_MAX_MS",2000,"ENABLE_SLOW_BROWSER_PERFORMANCE_PROBE","SLOW_TELEMETRY_THRESHOLD_MS","ENABLE_BROWSER_DOCUMENT_LOAD_TRACING","BROWSER_DOCUMENT_LOAD_IGNORE_NETWORK_EVENTS","BROWSER_DOCUMENT_LOAD_RESOURCE_SPANS","slow","BROWSER_LONG_TASK_MIN_DURATION_MS",100,"ENABLE_BROWSER_ROUTE_TRANSITION_TRACING","CORALOGIX_APP_PUBKEY","cxtp_ZonPe8vXSpl7Sbn2e9lrxdxOLJQFof","CORALOGIX_SEND_YOUR_DATA_API_KEY","cxtp_j2JgJ8zS2kCYRwUSWE5ZsBnzIMxbrj","OTEL_SERVICE_NAME","remix","CORALOGIX_SESSION_SAMPLE_RATE","sanityConfig",{"_754":755,"_756":714,"_757":758,"_759":760},"projectId","o6wj5zo6","dataset","apiVersion","2025-03-09","studioUrl","http://localhost:3334","authClientId","76af4ad3-83f1-485c-9242-9621d986dd70","authSyncContext","customer","authEnv","ws.phillips.com","apiKey","YNg99gZHWH8V2TK41OyvHaH9lbSyo0WF14DooTlH","heartbeatInterval",300]

19

Danielle McKinney

To Pretend

Further Details

Full-Cataloguing

Danielle McKinney