Resonance of Form Works on Paper
Because a couple of the works being displayed in Beauford's solo exhibition at The Drawing Center were first shown in public during the 2016 Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition that the Wells International Foundation and Les Amis organized in Paris, I was inspired to look at all the works on paper from this earlier show and post images of a few of them here today.
The first four works represented in the images below are my favorites from Resonance of Form.
(1956) Inks on paper
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
(1956) Aquarelle on paper
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
(1963) Mixed media on paper
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
(1970) Mixed media on cardboard
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The two works pictured below are similar to works represented in The Drawing Center's In the Medium of Life catalog.
(1960) Mixed media on paper
Similar to Plate 37 in In the Medium of Life
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
(1972) Watercolor on paper
Similar to Plate 89 in In the Medium of Life
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Sold and To Be Sold 3
Beauford's Untitled (Composition in Blue) was auctioned by Christie's New York as part of the First Open | Post-War & Contemporary Art online sale, which was held from July 3 through July 18, 2025.
Untitled (Composition in Blue)
(1961) Gouache on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Its estimated sale price was $20,000 - $30,000.
It sold for $21,420, including a 26% buyer's premium.
Today (Saturday, 26 July 2025), a vibrant Beauford Delaney abstract painting is being auctioned by Aurora & Athena in Barcelona.
Abstract Composition
(1961) Oil on canvas
Signed front lower right "61 Beauford Delaney"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Aurora & Athena's write-up about this work is particularly poetic. The writer actually describes the work as "a visual poem that lives, breathes, and continues to speak to new generations."
Other lyrical descriptions include the painting being "bold and tender," seeming to "inhale and exhale with light," and "balancing intensity with grace."
Visitors to the Web page that presents Abstract Composition, 1961 have the opportunity to read a "bonus article" about Beauford called "Beauford Delaney Abstract Paintings Captivate the Market." This well referenced piece not only thoroughly reviews the painterly characteristics and evolution of Beauford's work, but also unabashedly explores the value his work represents for collectors.
As an example of this value, the article includes a link to an internal Web page that presents an 1968 abstract work on paper sold by the auction house in December 2024.
The estimated sale price of Abstract Composition, 1961 is 20,000€ to 30,000€.
Click HERE to learn more about the auction.
Dark Rapture in Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin
Duke University Press describes Amy J. Elias' Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin (2025) as a publication that "brings together scholars, critics, and artists who analyze the stylistic and historical import of Delaney's and Baldwin’s works and examine how this friendship fundamentally shaped the pair's ideas about art and life.
"The book’s contributors explore how the two men, sharing identities as queer Black American artists, first in New York and then as expatriates in France, created a speculative space in their work to think about more just and creative Black futures."
Cover Art: Portrait of James Baldwin
(1965) Oil on canvas
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Dr. Elias, who is Chancellor’s Professor, Distinguished Professor of English, and Director of the Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, organized the February 2020 symposium of the same name in parallel with the opening days of the Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
Scholarly papers presented at the symposium responded to questions concerning arts history and Black aesthetics, music and sonic arts, ethics and social values, style and form, gender and sexuality, and biography and legacies. Elias gathered these extraordinary papers and assembled them for the Duke University Press publication.
Speculative Light is both broad and deep in its exploration of Beauford and Baldwin. "Casual" readers should understand that the writings are indeed scholarly and that this is not a book that can be readily skimmed for information.
Rather than write a review of the entire collection of essays in a single post, I have decided to select elements of Beauford's life and work that are discussed by multiple contributors and present a few of their thoughts—ranging from painterly descriptions to psychological inferences—about these elements in periodic blog posts.
Today, I present various musings about Beauford's first portrait of Baldwin: Dark Rapture.
(1941) Oil on masonite
Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
This painting is presented on the first of 32 color plates that illustrate Speculative Light.
The book's first mention of Dark Rapture comes from Beauford's biographer, David Leeming.1
In his essay entitled "Jimmy and Beauford—The Bond of the Unusual Door," Leeming expresses his belief that the title of the work may have been inspired by the 1938 documentary (the text erroneously says "1931") about explorations of the Belgian Congo. He describes Dark Rapture as "an act of love, like nothing he had painted before or would ever paint again."
Discussions about the painting itself begin with Magdalena J. Zaborowska's2 essay, "Beauford Delaney's Black Queer Fatherhood."
Zaborowska describes Beauford as an alternative father figure that Baldwin desperately needed. She says Baldwin's features seem "undefined" and interprets the portrait as capturing "the psychic toll exacted by the youth's Harlem preacher father" and "the painful impact of Baldwin's homophobic and violent stepfather."
She comments that this portrait is unique because Beauford focused on Baldwin's "darkly luminous" body rather than his "expressive face," and she construes Baldwin's posture as a reflection of "indecisiveness and slight physical discomfort."
Zaborowska goes on to say that "Baldwin is rendered motionless yet dynamic, sparkling with light and energy, yet afraid and uncertain." She states that Baldwin, "in Delaney's eye, is both a wounded child and an erotically charged demigod . . . ."
(1941) Oil on masonite
Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
In her essay entitled "Choosing Both—Abstraction and Singularity in Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin," Monika Gehlawat3 approaches Dark Rapture as one of the figurative paintings Beauford created after his "turn toward abstraction." She evokes the work of Matisse as she discusses the "elongated forms" and "bright color palette" Beauford used to render this work and says it is "undoubtedly an homage to his fauvist predecessor."
In contrast to Zaborowska, Gehlawat finds Baldwin's features to be "clearly delineated" and says his eyes "seem meditative and observant, an embodiment of the inner and outer eye that Baldwin felt Delaney cultivated in him." She says Beauford has portrayed him as "archetypal, a supernatural man . . . who manifests a somber, almost spiritual, self composure . . . ." In her view, a "fantasy of freedom" emanates from this painting.
Two additional brief references to Beauford's portrayal of Baldwin's face by different authors indicate that it is composed of "a black of many colors" and refer to its "ochre face and pink eyebrows."
Robert F. Reid-Pharr4 writes about Dark Rapture in "Singed Innocence—Baldwin, Delaney, and the Problematic Black Child," an essay about Baldwin, Beauford, and Yoran Cazac, the illustrator of Baldwin's Little Man, Little Man. He introduces his narrative about Dark Rapture by saying it "certainly is meant to evoke painterly stress."
Reid-Pharr goes on to describe multiple components of the painting—its "surfeit of color," the angularity of Baldwin's body, the "lack of precise distinction between surfaces"—as being "wrong." He says "the imprecision (or is it overprecision?) of the artist's palette suggests a thing that is falling apart. Baldwin appears as so much cooked meat, meat made more delectable in the process."
He ends his discussion of Dark Rapture by saying that Beauford "resolves the painting with one bit of certainty, that spot of dark black-blue-green color between the boy's thighs, representing the possibility, the story, of genitalia."
(1941) Oil on masonite
Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Abbe Schriber5 writes about Beauford's work in her essay entitled "Architects of the Spirit—Color and Intimacy in Beauford Delaney's Post-1950 Abstractions." She "reaches back" to Beauford's 1941 portrait of Baldwin in the midst of a discussion about the association of abstraction with queerness and/or femininity and the multifaceted significance of nonrepresentational abstraction for Black artists.
Schriber references art historian Nikki A. Green's observation that Beauford visited John Singer Sargent's studio after Sargent's death and posits that Beauford painted Dark Rapture "in dialogue with Sargent's Thomas McKeller, the portrait of his nude Black model."
(c. 1917-1920) Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund
Image in public domain
She continues to reference Greene's comments on Dark Rapture, saying that "it is through color and brushstroke that Delaney effects his intimate affection without sensationalizing Baldwin's nudity." She quotes Greene as saying "Although Delaney created a nude portrait of Baldwin, the writer appears 'dressed' here in multicolor pigments . . . . As a black man, Delaney respectfully and upliftingly renders Baldwin's black, male body not in code or in hiding . . . . In fact, Baldwin is boldly proclaimed and celebrated with every brushstroke!"
1David Leeming is Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
2Magdalena J. Zaborowska is Professor in the Departments of American Culture and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan.
3Monika Gehlawat is Professor of English and Associate Director of the School of Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi.
4Robert R. Reid-Pharr is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University.
5Abbe Schriber is Assistant Professor of Art History and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina.
Composition in Blue Is Being Auctioned by Christie's
Beauford's Untitled (Composition in Blue) is one of the works I featured in Part 1 of a blog post called "Beauford's Blues."
It is being auctioned by Christie's New York as part of the First Open | Post-War & Contemporary Art online sale.
Lot 37Untitled (Composition in Blue)
(1961) Gouache on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work is signed and dated December 25, 1961.
At that time, Beauford resided at La Maison de Santé Nogent-sur-Marne, where he received psychiatric care from Dr. Gaston Ferdière.
According to biographer David Leeming, he arrived at the clinic on December 20, so he had some time to acclimate to his new surroundings before painting this work.
Solange du Closel and her husband drove Beauford to the clinic after having cared for him in their home. Presumably, they provided the materials he used to create Untitled (Composition in Blue).
I always have a feeling of lightness, of airiness, when I look at an image of this work. I wonder if Beauford felt this way when he painted it, given that he had been prescribed medication that Leeming says stopped his hallucinations.
The First Open | Post-War & Contemporary Art sale runs through July 18, 2025. The estimated sale price of Untitled (Composition in Blue) is $20,000 - $30,000.
For information about the sale, click HERE.All Eyes Are on Beauford at the Drawing Center
Now that the Paris Noir exhibition at Paris' Centre Pompidou has closed, Beauford Delaney aficionados are turning their eyes westward to the dazzling monographic exhibition that features roughly 90 pieces of Beauford's work at The Drawing Center in NYC.
The center's Website presents In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney as "New York's first major Delaney museum exhibition in over thirty years and the first ever focused on his drawings—a medium central to his artistic practice."
Though a few oils punctuate the show, the majority of the works on display are rendered in ink, ballpoint pen, graphite, charcoal, pastels, gouache, or watercolor. They span Beauford's entire career from Boston (late 1920s) through Paris (early 1970s).
(1956) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
These works are complemented by archival materials that include documentary photographs, correspondence, exhibition brochures, and press clippings.
ON THE INTERNET
Numerous articles, a podcast, and a video blog vividly describe this show, which opened on May 30, 2025.
Financial Times: Beauford Delaney — luminous painter admired by James Baldwin, Henry Miller and Georgia O’Keeffe
WNYC: Don't Overlook Beauford Delaney's Drawings (summary and transcript of Everand.com podcast mentioned below)
(Undated) Oil on board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Everand.com: "Don't Overlook Beauford Delaney's Drawings" from All of It
(1950) Pastel, watercolor, and charcoal on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Wanafoto: In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney - The Drawing Center, New York
Berkshire Fine Arts: "Beauford Delaney at the Drawing Center: In the Medium of Life" by Rosenfeld
AT THE VENUE
The Drawing Center has organized a bilingual English-Spanish art workshop inspired by the exhibition.
Facilitated by Ada Pilar Cruz, it will be held on July 19 at 11 AM:
See images of the installation on The Drawing Center's Website:
The Drawing Center - Beauford Delaney Installation
and video of it courtesy of the James Kalm Rough Cut video blog on YouTube:
(1945) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Elise Ferguson and Dena Novak at SHRINE Beauford Delaney at the DRAWING CENTER
(Commentary begins at 14:43 minutes and runs through the end of this ~40-minute video.)
CATALOG
Find the 220-page catalog (for purchase and/or online viewing) here:
Catalog: In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney
Catalog cover art: Self-Portrait
See below
(1964) Watercolor and gouache on paper
Photo credit: Knoxville Museum of Art
Courtesy Ruth and Joe Fielden, Knoxville, TN
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney will be on display through September 14, 2025.
The Drawing Center
35 Wooster St
New York, New York 10013
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday 12 PM - 6 PM
Last Days for Paris Noir
On March 22, 2025, I published an article entitled "Beauford Is Front and Center in Paris Noir" to present the epic exhibition that features the work of 150+ African and Afro-descendent artists who lived in Paris between 1950 and 2000.
© Entrée to Black Paris
In what feels like the blink of an eye, Paris Noir is coming to an end.
Monday, June 30 is the last day that you will be able to see this show.
The French press was clearly enamored of Beauford's œuvre - I found his name (often accompanied by an image of one of his works or a photograph of him and James Baldwin) in more than 15 online articles about the exhibition.
His Portrait of a Young Man (1965), which hangs in Room 15 of the show, made the cover of Beaux Arts magazine.
Fair use claim
Portrait of a Young Man
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The exhibition has been enormously popular. Le Figaro reported that roughly 3,500 people attended the opening event, and according to Le Point, nearly 200,000 people had visited the show by May 21, 2025 (for an average of 3,746 visitors a day).
Images © Entrée to Black Paris
Images © Entrée to Black Paris
Images © Entrée to Black Paris
Paris Noir is on display in Galerie 1, Level 6 of the Centre Pompidou.
© Entrée to Black Paris
Click HERE to purchase tickets.
Beauford Potpourri 4
I continue to peruse Google Alerts about Beauford to add to the information and references that illuminate the fascinating story of his life.
Below are a few links to information I have recently discovered.
Portrait of Anita Berliawsky Weinstein
Anita Berliawsky Weinstein
(1951) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sotheby's sold a portrait of Anita Berliawsky Weinstein during its Contemporary Art Sale on May 16, 2025. The estimated sale price was $100,000 to $200,000.
The work sold for $127,000, including the buyer's premium of 27%.
I was intrigued by the story behind this work, having never seen an image of it before. Sotheby's reported that Weinstein was the sister of sculptress Louise Nevelson and that Nevelson helped Beauford get accepted for his fellowship at Yaddo in 1950. Neither woman is mentioned in David Leeming's biography of Beauford, Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney.
Beauford and Louise Nevelson may have met at the Art Students' League in New York, given that both studied there in the early 1930s.
Beauford Delaney at the DRAWING CENTER
As reported in a recent Les Amis blog post, Beauford's work is being featured in a solo exhibition at The Drawing Center in Manhattan.
I was thrilled to find a James Kalm "Rough Cuts" video about this show on YouTube the other day.
The first part of the video presents a show at Shrine that features art by Elise Ferguson and Dena Novak. From 14:43 minutes to the end of this ~40-minute video, Kalm presents Beauford's exhibition at the Drawing Center - complete with commentary.
Click HERE to see this magnificent exhibition.
Phillips sells Beauford Delaney abstract
Untitled
(c. 1972) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Phillips auctioned Untitled, c. 1972 at the morning session of its Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale on May 14, 2025. The estimated sale price of this work was $100,000 to $150,000.
It sold for $228,600, including the buyer's premium of 27%.
In Amazing Grace, David Leeming describes 1972 as a difficult year for Beauford. Bright spots included Henry Miller's birthday visit to Paris in January, a trip to Normandy with Jim and Bunny LeGros, and visits from friends Larry Calcagno and Michael Freilich during the summer.
Perhaps Beauford painted Untitled during one of these periods.
Read previously published Beauford Potpourri articles by clicking on the links below.
Auction House Websites Provide a Great Look at Beauford's Work
An excellent way to familiarize yourself with Beauford's work is to look at the Websites of auction houses that sell it.
Find the Web links for three of them below.
Each link is accompanied by an image of the work that has fetched the highest price at that auction house to date.
James Baldwin
(1966) oil on canvas
39 1/2 x 29 7/8in. (100.2 x 76cm.)
Signed and dated 'Beauford Delaney 1966' (lower left)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sale price: 1,026,000 GBP ($1,150,114), including Buyer's Premium.
(1948) Oil on canvas
737x1016 mm; 29x40 inches
Signed and dated in oil, lower left.
Image from Swann Auction Galleries Web site
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sale price: $557,000, including Buyer's Premium.
Untitled
(c. 1972) Oil on canvas
63 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sale price: $348,000, including Buyer's Premium.
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Presents Bienvenue: African American Artists in France
~ Beauford Delaney, 1966*
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (MRG) is well represented at the Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950–2000 exhibition that is on view at the Centre Pompidou in Paris through June 30, 2025.
In parallel with this groundbreaking show, the gallery is presenting Bienvenue: African American Artists in France in New York through July 25, 2025.
MRG describes this exhibition as "a historical survey of seventeen Black American artists who lived and worked in France from the late nineteenth century through the present" that "offers an expanded look into the presence of Black American artists in France, many of whom were seeking respite from the systemic racism that limited their opportunities for education and the recognition of their work in the United States."
Bienvenue focuses specifically on American artists and spans nearly eight decades in its chronological scope, beginning with a 1912 painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) and ending with a 1989 sculpture by Barbara Chase-Riboud (b.1939).
Anyone who knows MRG knows of the gallery's decades-long devotion to Beauford's legacy. In addition to the work they have done to ensure the visibility of his artwork, they contributed the fundraising campaign to place a tombstone at Beauford's previously unmarked grave in 2009-2010 and have consistently supported this blog.
MRG loaned over half of the paintings by Beauford that hang in Paris Noir, and it is showing six (6) Beauford Delaney paintings in Bienvenue.
Of all the artists represented in this show, Beauford has the most works on display.
Below are images of my favorite works from Bienvenue.
(1967) Oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches / 38.4 x 55.2 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(c. 1970) Oil on canvas
19 1/2 x 24 inches / 49.5 x 61 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Bienvenue: African American Artists in France features works by 17 African-American artists. Beauford knew several of them personally, including Ed Clark, Herbert Gentry, and Palmer Hayden.
To see images of the works in this show, click HERE.
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
100 11th Avenue @ 19th
New York, NY 10011
Regular Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday, 10AM–6PM, or by appointment
Summer Hours
(Memorial Day–Labor Day):
Monday–Friday, 10AM–6PM, or by appointment
*Beauford Delaney quoted in John Ashbery, “American Sanctuary in Paris,” ARTnews Annual Vol. 31 (1966): 146
Beauford at The Drawing Center
The Drawing Center will host a first-of-its-kind exhibition of Beauford's work from May 30 through September 14, 2025.
In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney will exclusively feature works on paper. It will be the first comprehensive Beauford Delaney exhibition since the retrospective mounted by the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1978.
The Drawing Center has amassed approximately 90 drawings, gouaches, pastels and notebook sketches for this show. Sources include the Beauford Delaney estate, the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and the Beauford Delaney Papers held at the University of Tennessee Libraries.
Two of the gouaches on paper in the exhibition were shown in public for the first time in the 2016 Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition organized by the Wells International Foundation and Les Amis in Paris, France.
(1961) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1961) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The show will also include several works on canvas and archival materials such as documentary photographs, correspondence, exhibition brochures, and press clippings that are intended to provide a biographical backdrop for Beauford's artistic practice.
Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967.
University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives.*
Image by Wells International Foundation
Founded 24 years after Beauford left NYC for Paris, The Drawing Center's original address (137 Greene Street) was in the same block as Beauford's studio (181 Greene Street). The center moved to its present location at 35 Wooster Street in 1987.
Click HERE to read about the interesting history of this neighborhood.
For detailed information about the exhibition, click HERE.
*Conditions Governing Use
Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator.
Held in the Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
French Press Captivated by Beauford's Portrait of James Baldwin
In his article for The Guardian about the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, journalist Jason Okundaye writes:
"If [Gerard] Sekoto is the face of the Paris Noir exhibition, then [Beauford] Delaney is its beating heart."
Articles published by the French press about the exhibition seem to corroborate this observation.
L'EssentiART published an article that focuses solely on the Beauford Delaney works in the show. The title of the piece refers to Beauford as the "luminous red line" (fil rouge lumineux) of the exhibition.
A large number of articles include an image of one of Beauford's iconic portraits of James Baldwin.
(c. 1945-1950) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The painting represented in the image above is one of the two Beauford Delaney portraits of Baldwin that hang in the second room of the exhibition.
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
(1967) Oil on canvas
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
Of the 13 write-ups I found on the first three pages of Google by using the prompt "Beauford Delaney and Paris Noir," seven (7) of them use a full or cropped image of the older, multicolored portrait as the article's anchor image.
An additional two (2) of the articles use the image in the body of the article or in an image slider.
One can only speculate as to why so much attention is being paid to this particular work, especially since Beauford's dazzling portrait of Marian Anderson and his own stunning self-portrait are also part of the show.
What is certain is that Beauford has captivated the French press!
Thoughts of Spring
When I saw the image of the work on paper depicted below, I immediately thought of spring – the season of new beginnings, of rebirth.
For me, spring is the season of hope.
(1961) Watercolor on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The brownish vertical lines in this work remind me of tree bark and the green blotches and sweeping curvilinear strokes remind me of leaves and branches covered with the foliage of the season.
The yellow core evokes a mighty rush of sun-derived energy filling the core of this hollow tree.
But the choice of the pale greens for the background somehow mutes the power of that energy.
This leaves me with a slight feeling of melancholy.
Beauford created this work in 1961. In Amazing Grace, Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, talks about three letters that Beauford wrote during the first ten days of March that year.
In a letter to Lynn Stone, he wrote about not having found a "solution" to living in "a jungle of the world."
In a letter to his brother, Joseph, he spoke of sadness and having come through great trials and tribulations. He then indicated his belief that "God understands us all and has love for us and mercy."
In a letter to his dear friend, Larry Calcagno, he wrote:
"... movement for me is inside rather than without."
I wonder if Untitled (Yellow and Green Composition) could be an artistic representation of the solace Beauford was seeking during this difficult emotional period – a way of painting into existence what he wanted to feel inside.
Beauford Delaney’s Street Scene (1968): An Expanded View
Shortly after having published the post entitled “Two Street Scenes,” I received a message from Stephen Wicks, Barbara W. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA)—owner of the largest and most comprehensive public collection of Beauford Delaney’s work.
Wicks wrote to inform me about several Beauford Delaney works on paper in the museum’s collection that provide insight into the geographical location depicted in the magnificent yellow painting of a street scene that is currently being displayed at the Paris Noir exhibition in Paris.
He graciously shared his observations and supporting images from the KMA’s Beauford Delaney collection and the University of Tennessee Library’s Beauford Delaney Papers in the article below.
Beauford Delaney’s Street Scene (1968): An Expanded View
By Stephen Wicks
Monique Wells’ post, “Two Street Scenes,” provided a welcome opportunity to share some images and information concerning a group of related urban landscapes that Beauford Delaney created on two continents over a period of three decades.
Monique reconsidered her initial assessment that the Paris-era Street Scene (1968), sold by Phillips in December 2020, represents the City of Light after she saw the strikingly similar mid-1940s canvas called Untitled (Greenwich Village Street), which was sold at Swann Auction Galleries on October 3, 2024 from the collection of Delaney’s friend, Kenneth Lash.
(1968) Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N. Y.
Signed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY 1968" lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
(circa 1945-46) Oil on linen canvas
457x546 mm; 18x21½ inches.
Signed and dated (indistinctly) in oil, lower right recto.
Signed (three times) and inscribed "181 Greene St" (twice)"
and "NY" in oil on the stretcher bars, verso.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
While Delaney’s inventive studio approach often leaves the interpretation of subject and location open to multiple possibilities, considerable evidence supports the notion that these and other related scenes by the artist indeed depict elevated train tracks in New York City. They may represent a location not far from Delaney’s 181 Greene Street studio in Greenwich Village, which he occupied from 1936 to 1952.
First, Swann’s description of the painting indicates that inscribed on the back are "NY” and “181 Greene St.”
Second, related studies in a variety of media can be found in the artist’s New York-era sketchbooks; the time span they cover (mid 1940s-1967) and their number attest to the fact that this was a New York City scene of enduring interest to the painter.
Some studies take the form of pencil contour drawings.
Untitled (El study), circa 1940
Graphite on spiral sketchbook paper, approximately 4 x 6 inches
Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special
Collections and University Archives,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Others are pastels or gouaches on spiral notebook paper that feature luminous environments punctuated by loose marks suggesting a fire hydrant or pedestrian.
Pastel on spiral notebook paper, approximately 4 x 6 inches
Knoxville Museum of Art, 2018 Beauford Delaney Acquisition
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Pastel on spiral notebook paper, approximately 4 x 6 inches
Knoxville Museum of Art, 2018 Beauford Delaney Acquisition
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Watercolor and gouache on spiral notebook paper, 4 1/8 x 7 inches
Knoxville Museum of Art, 2014 purchase with funds provided by
the Rachael Patterson Young Art Acquisition Reserve
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Third, I discovered in one of Delaney’s albums a black and white photograph from the artist’s New York era depicting the canvas sold in 2024 by Swann. It is accompanied by an inscription identifying the title of the painting as “Third Avenue” and “owned by Mr. Kenneth Lash, University of New Mexico.”
Photograph of Delaney painting Third Avenue
identical to Untitled (Greenwich Village Street)
Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Detail: inscription for photograph of Third Avenue:
“Third Avenue, owned by Mr. Kenneth Lash, University of New Mexico”
With this information in hand, I consulted period photographs of elevated passenger train tracks along Third Avenue. I found that the Third Avenue El (demolished in 1954) ran roughly two blocks east of Delaney’s Greene Street studio, and that both canvases in question are likely based on views of the Third Avenue El from a nearby intersection. Perhaps the artist was aware that the city’s elevated tracks were being phased out in the 1940s-50s and was inspired to pay tribute.
which passed roughly two blocks east of Delaney’s
181 Greene Street studio.
Photograph by Sid Kaplan.
This array of evidence confirms Street Scene (1968) as a New York cityscape Delaney created some fifteen years after moving to Paris that evolved compositionally and chromatically over the course of several sketchbook studies. Perhaps the painter created Street Scene from memory, or perhaps he consulted the black and white photograph of his canvas Third Avenue as a visual reference.
In any case, Delaney’s decision to depict this Manhattan setting decades after moving to Paris attests to his enduring fascination with New York City’s urban landscape, and with this particular location.
Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Coincidentally or not, Beauford Delaney’s interest in this particular urban setting represents a fascinating point of intersection with the studio practice of his New York-based younger brother Joseph Delaney (1904-1991), who specialized in bold figurative paintings and drawings that capture the ebb and flow of urban life along New York City's bridges and boulevards.
But that’s another story for another day.
Two Street Scenes
In an article entitled "Beauford's Street Scenes," published on August 17, 2024, I expressed my belief that the painting shown in the image below represented the elevated train (metro) that serves the south and southwest parts of the city of Paris.
My reasoning was based on the date of the painting, which is 1968. (Beauford never returned to New York City after he moved to Paris in 1953.)
(1968) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY 1968" lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
When I recently compared it to the painting sold by Swann Auction Galleries in October 2024, I was prompted to rethink my original supposition.
(circa 1945-46) Oil on linen canvas
457x546 mm; 18x21½ inches.
Signed and dated (indistinctly) in oil, lower right recto.
Signed (three times) and inscribed "181 Greene St" (twice)"
and "NY" in oil on the stretcher bars, verso.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Though the color palettes used for these works is strikingly dissimilar, the composition of the scenes depicted is virtually identical.
In both works, a viaduct dominates the center of the scene. Three of its pillars are clearly visible, and a street lamp with a round lantern is visible beneath it.
In both works, buildings are depicted behind the viaduct. The angles at which they are portrayed are somewhat different, but there is similarity in the roof lines (note the step-like structure of the roof of the second of the four buildings at the right of both paintings).
The placement of the buildings in relation to the viaduct's pillars on the right side of the painting is identical. On the left side of the 1968 painting, a building appears to be "missing."
The horizontal center of both paintings is filled with ground-level building façades. Beauford favored round windows for these structures in his circa 1945-46 work, whereas only the building at the far left has (indistinctly) round "windows" in the 1968 work.
In the 1940s painting, Beauford has clearly indicated a short, round street sign in the foreground.
In the 1968 painting, he has included a similar but indistinct object of the same size and approximate placement.
Finally, Beauford has placed two figures - one stationary and one walking - in each painting. Their locations are different, and the stationary figures are not clearly identifiable as human.
Given the similarity of these works, created almost 25 years apart, one has to wonder whether Beauford worked from a photo of this location when he painted each of these street scenes.
Another possibility is that he had a photo of his 1940s work that inspired the one he painted in 1968.
A future visit to the University of Tennessee Libraries to peruse the photos in the Beauford Delaney Papers might yield some answers!
* Street Scene, 1968 is the first work of art people see when they visit the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Read about Beauford's prominence in the exhibition HERE.
Beauford's Portrait of John Koenig Sold by Swann Auction Galleries
Almost two years ago today, I published an article about Beauford and John-Franklin Koenig.
In it, I reported that Beauford's portrait of Koenig was auctioned by Sotheby's during its March 9, 2011 Contemporary Art sale and purchased for $7,500.
(1968) Oil on linen canvas
Signed and dated, lower right recto
Signed and dated in graphite, verso
Signed and titled in ink, the crossbar
25½x21¼ in.
647x552 mm.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This painting was offered for sale by Swann Auction Galleries during its African American Art sale (Sale 2698) on April 3, 2025.
Assigned Lot Number 45, its estimated sale price was $40,000 to $60,000.
Swann sold the painting for $40,000, including buyer's premium.
For more information about this auction, click HERE.
Beauford Is Front and Center at Paris Noir
The groundbreaking Paris Noir exhibition opened at the Centre Pompidou museum on March 19, 2025.
And Beauford's Street Scene, 1968 is the first thing people see when they walk into the show!
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
The full title of the exhibition is Paris Noir: Circulations artistiques et luttes anticoloniales 1950-2000.
The museum describes it as follows:
From the creation of the Présence Africaine review to that of Revue noire, “Black Paris” retraces the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1950s to 2000. The exhibition celebrates 150 artists coming from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, whose works have often never been displayed in France before.
While Beauford's work has been shown in group shows in Paris many times before, those occasions pale in comparison to this one.
Fourteen (14) of his best paintings are on display in multiple sections of Paris Noir, including the dazzling 1965 self-portrait held by the Whitney Museum of American Art.
This painting, which is my favorite work in the entire show, is hung next to one of two portraits of James Baldwin in Room 2.
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
One of Beauford's portraits of an older James Baldwin hangs on the wall behind Street Scene, 1968 in Room 2 and seemingly gazes at the two portraits across the room.
(1967) Oil on canvas
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
The Centre Pompidou is displaying its large Beauford Delaney abstract in the "Le saut dans l'abstraction" section, next to two of Beauford's yellow abstractions.
(1967) Oil on canvas
Artworks © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The last time the museum showed this work was in 2013, when it hung in the Multiple Modernities 1905-1970 exhibition.
(1957) Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has loaned its Portrait of Marian Anderson to the show.
(1965) Oil and egg tempera emulsion on canvas
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris
The remainder of the paintings were loaned by private collectors and the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery. They include Beauford's portrait of Ahmed Bioud, Bernard Hassell, and an unidentified young man.
Beauford shows up in Paris Noir in other ways. The Ina film clip of him being interviewed in his Clamart studio plays on the same wall where paintings by his friends Ed Clark, Herb Gentry, and Larry Potter hang.
R to L: Ed Clark, Herb Gentry, and Larry Potter
© Entrée to Black Paris
Reproductions of the invitation card for his monographic show at the Galerie Lambert in Paris are on display on the wall in the Paris Dakar Lagos section of the show.
© Entrée to Black Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris
And you can catch a couple of glimpses of him in a video clip from "Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris 1970," during which James Baldwin "holds court" in Beauford's rue Vercingétorix studio.
from the BBC's "Meeting the Man"
© Entrée to Black Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris
Outside the exhibition itself, UTK Professor Mary Campbell spoke about the Beauford-Baldwin friendship during the first day of the exhibition colloquium. She spoke passionately about her view of how Baldwin inspired Beauford's art, focusing on the portrait of Baldwin that Beauford named Dark Rapture.
© Entrée to Black Paris
On Day 2 of the colloquium, I spoke about the two Beauford Delaney walking tours that I created for Entrée to Black Paris during a presentation called "Paris Places and Spaces." I cited the 2016 Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in Paris as the catalyst for the first tour and the 2024 UTLibraries visit to Paris in preparation for the exhibition they are preparing for the inauguration of the Beauford Delaney Papers as the catalyst for the second one.
© Entrée to Black Paris
For many reasons, Paris Noir is an exhibition that should not be missed.
In my book, getting "up close and personal" with several brilliant Beauford Delaney paintings is one of the top three!
Beauford's Art on View - Current Exhibitions
Beauford's work is currently on display in exhibitions across the U.S. through June 1, 2025.
Art Institute of Chicago - Chicago, IL
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica (December 15, 2024 - March 30, 2025)
Co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona in collaboration with KANAL-Centre Pompidou Bruxelles, Project a Black Planet is the first major exhibition to survey Pan-Africanism’s cultural manifestations.
Beauford's Self-Portrait in a Paris Bath House 1971, in which he depicts himself in African dress, is on display in the Interiors room of the exhibition.
Listen to Professor Adom Getachew of the University of Chicago describe this work in the YouTube video below (description begins at 6:47).
Read about the exhibition HERE.
National Portrait Gallery - Washington, D.C.
This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance (July 12, 2024 – April 20, 2025)
This exhibition is a celebration of the "queer voices" of James Baldwin and a circle of friends who maintained various degrees of silence about their sexuality at the same time that they were outspoken about racial injustice during the Civil Rights Movement. It features the Art Institute of Chicago's 1944 self-portrait of Beauford and the National Portrait Gallery's 1963 portrait of James Baldwin by Beauford.
(1963) Pastel on Paper
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Read about the exhibition HERE.
Oglethorpe University Museum of Art - Brookhaven, GA
Fragile Genius: Catherine Wiley and Beauford Delaney (January 30 - May 4, 2025)
According to Curator John Daniel Tilford, this exhibition presents a number of major Beauford Delaney works, including a rather rare early still life that has not been publicly exhibited in several decades and two late masterpieces loaned by Clark Atlanta University.
Untitled: Self Portrait by Beauford Delaney(1964) Oil on canvas
Tennessee State Museum Collection 2001.46
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Read about the show HERE.
Spelman College Museum - Atlanta, GA
We Say What Black This Is (February 7 - May 24, 2025)
We Say What Black This Is features mixed media and watercolor paintings by MacArthur award-winning artist Amanda Williams. The exhibition showcases Williams’ abstract paintings alongside works by prominent artists from Atlanta collections,including Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and private collectors.
The Spelman College Museum Website indicates that the show "includes works by Betty Blayton, Sheila Pree Bright, Beverly Buchanan, Beauford Delaney, Sam Gilliam, Maren Hassinger, Jacob Lawrence, Deborah Roberts, Thomas Sills, Alma Thomas, and Ming Washington to offer multifaceted perspectives on Black identity. Delaney’s expressive abstract paintings explore spirituality..."
Read more about We Say What Black This Is HERE.
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art - Las Vegas, NV
American Duet: Jazz and Abstract Art (November 15, 2024 - June 1, 2025)
As reported in our blog post dated December 7, 2024, two of Beauford's abstracts are on display at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas.
The 1956 blue and rose gouache on illustration board that was selected for this show is one of my favorites!
(1956) Gouache on illustration board
Signed and dated in ink, lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford in the Patricia Scipio-Brim Collection
Patricia Scipio-Brim was an avid collector of postwar and contemporary Black art focusing on abstraction. On February 6, 2025, Swann Auction Galleries hosted a sale of works from her collection.
Among them were two works on paper by Beauford.
Untitled (Abstraction in Yellow, Blue and Red)
(1961) Watercolor on wove paper
655x503 mm; 25⅞x19⅞ inches
Signed and dated in ink, lower right
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Untitled (Clamart, Seine)
(1958) Watercolor and gouache on wove paper
654x508 mm; 25¾x20 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The yellow, blue, and red abstraction is dated 1961, the year Beauford attempted suicide. Biographer David Leeming wrote that friends took Beauford to San Telmo, Spain after his return from his traumatic trip to Greece and that with the help of Bernice O'Reilly and Gita Boggs, he "managed to maintain a certain calm, and even began to do some watercolors."
Perhaps this work reflects a lightening of his spirit during that time.
The estimated sale price of this work was $30,000 - $40,000.
It sold for ???
The green and blue abstract is dated 1958.
The words "Clamart, Seine" beneath Beauford's signature could easily signify two important events that took place during the summer of that year - the arrival of James and Gloria Jones in Paris (they lived on the Ile Saint-Louis in the middle of the Seine River) and the return of James Baldwin to Clamart.
Beauford spent a great deal of time with all three of them, and the Joneses commissioned several paintings from him.
This abstract was part of the collection of Gloria Jones. Its estimated sale price was $20,000 - $30,000.
It sold for ???
Case Auction Results for Beauford Delaney Watercolor and Catalogs
On January 25, 2025, Case Auctions of Knoxville, TN auctioned a single abstract watercolor and four Beauford Delaney catalogs from the estate of John Z.C. Thomas during Day 1 of its 2025 Winter Fine Art & Antiques sale.
Untitled
(1958) Watercolor on paper
Signed "Beauford Delaney," inscribed "Clamart"
Dated 1958 in black pen, lower right
25"x 18 3/4"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
As indicated in the blog post announcing the sale two weeks ago, I believe Beauford painted this work during one of his happy periods in 1958. David Leeming describes several of these in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney—the release of two cases of his paintings stored in New York, a trip to the south to visit René Laubiès, participation in a group show in Germany, a peaceful summer in Clamart with James Baldwin ....
A quote from a letter Beauford wrote to Larry Wallrich in June 1958 may well describe what Beauford wanted to accomplish with this work: "Am today still trying to bring together color compositions from the strange and many-faceted thing that is my life."
The cost estimate for the watercolor and catalogs was $14,000 - $16,000.
The lot sold for $11,590, including buyer's premium.
Case Antiques to Auction Beauford Delaney Watercolor and Catalogs
On January 25, 2025, Case Auctions of Knoxville, TN will place a single abstract watercolor and four Beauford Delaney catalogs up for auction during Day 1 of its 2025 Winter Fine Art & Antiques sale.
The items come from the estate of John Z.C. Thomas, one of the people I affectionately call "The Knoxville Eleven," who traveled to Paris for the Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in 2016.
They are being offered as a single lot.
Untitled
(1958) Watercolor on paper
Signed "Beauford Delaney," inscribed "Clamart"
Dated 1958 in black pen, lower right
25"x 18 3/4"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The watercolor is a lyrical work with broad, fluid strokes of yellow, orange, and purple - some overlapping and some lying in parallel.
They give me the impression that people are dancing, and I'm guessing that Beauford created this work during one of his happier times in 1958.
The catalogs that complete the lot are the following:
-
BEAUFORD DELANEY: THE COLOR YELLOW (Richard J. Powell, Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 2002)
BEAUFORD DELANEY: RESONANCE OF FORM AND VIBRATION OF COLOR (Les Amis de Beauford Delaney & Wells International Foundation, Paris: Columbia Global Centers - Reid Hall, 2016)
BEAUFORD DELANEY AND JAMES BALDWIN: THROUGH THE UNUSUAL DOOR (Stephen C. Wicks, ed., Knoxville, TN: Knoxville Museum of Art, 2020), with trifold exhibition brochure and single-sheet timeline detailing Baldwin and Delaney's relationship
BE YOUR WONDERFUL SELF: THE PORTAITS OF BEAUFORD DELANEY (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2022).
The cost estimate for the watercolor and catalogs is $14,000 - $16,000.
For information about the sale, click HERE.