Auction of controversial African artwork canceled after last-minute bankruptcy filing

There were high hopes for the Thursday morning auction.

African art enthusiasts longed to catch a glimpse of more than 1,000 pieces and dreamed of the display possibilities. The building manager was optimistic about finally transforming the packed storage area into a conference room. And an attorney yearned for his clients to get at least some of their massive civil court settlement after years of back and forth with the owner of the artwork.

Those hopes were dashed after the owner, Sam Njunuri, filed an 11th-hour petition for bankruptcy Wednesday night, prolonging the controversy surrounding the African art once stored in a Harris County warehouse at taxpayer expense.

The filing surprised and disappointed potential bidders, some of whom had flown in from out of state, only to show up at the southwest Houston office building and learn the sale had been canceled.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Reginald Butler, an art enthusiast from Meyerland. “I’ve been waiting years to see something like this.”

The various wood and metal statues, carvings, masks and other objects that sat in the Harris County Precinct 1 warehouse in southeast Houston for several years were set to be auctioned off in a sheriff’s sale to satisfy a civil court judgment against Njunuri, in a real estate-related lawsuit stretching back to July 2017.

The lawsuit was filed by two women who said they entered into a housing rental agreement with Njunuri who later changed the locks on the home and sold their belongings. A jury found the two were owed nearly $1 million in damages and legal fees.

State District Judge Rabeea Collier ordered the sheriff’s sale of the artwork last October.

The African pieces were set to be sold together with a minimum bid of $4,400. The new owner would have walked away with a clean ownership title and bill of sale — something that currently does not exist.

Joseph Walker, the attorney for the two women who filed the civil lawsuit, said he believes Njunuri will remain on the hook for the $989,000 court judgment.

“Filing bankruptcy wasn’t a strategic move,” Walker said. “It was a move to stop the sale today and he had weeks and weeks and weeks that he could have done it, but he chose to wait until after the close of business.”

Butler, who drove about 15 minutes to the sale from his home in Meyerland, said he was stopped in the lobby — before he could even catch a glimpse at the art — and told the sale was canceled. He hurried to phone his friends, some of whom were planning to drive several hours and told them to turn around.

“They could’ve publicized better that it was canceled instead of allowing everyone to get excited,” Butler said. “I wasn’t planning to leave empty handed.”

Pierre Brooks first heard about the auction three days ago when an advertisement popped up on his phone. It didn’t take long for him to decide to book a flight from New York to Houston.

With a personal collection of nearly 400 pieces, Brooks said he has several on display in his Harlem apartment, as well as his own 4,000-square-foot museum in a renovated barn on his property in upstate New York. He said he previously loaned pieces to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After seeing Njunuri’s collection in person, Brooks said it was wide-ranging and “very interesting.” He said he could envision it in a museum and he hopes that can come to fruition.

“I had to see the collection to see if there was some salt of the earth or just manicured items,” he said. “And it has salt to it.”