Les Amis Celebrates Women's History Month - Part 1
March is Women's History Month and International Women's Day will be celebrated in just two days.
This year, Les Amis is celebrating Women's History Month by spotlighting Beauford's paintings of various women.
Beauford's mother, Delia, was by far the most important woman in Beauford's life. I featured her in two Les Amis blog posts:
Delia Delaney - Beauford's Beloved Mother
Happy Birthday, Delia Delaney!
and have published images of Beauford's portraits of her many times.
My favorite is the 1933 pastel that is held by the Knoxville Museum of Art.
Portrait of Delia Delaney
(1933) Pastel on paper
Knoxville Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
In Paris, several women supported Beauford with their friendship and financial resources.
Solange du Closel was a staunch patron and supporter, going so far as to provide Beauford with his living space / studio from 1962 to 1975.
Mme du Closel No. 4
(1972) Pastel on paper
G. R. N'Namdi Gallery
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Darthea Speyer became a primary conduit for the sale of Beauford's work after the two met in 1956.
Darthea
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Galerie Darthea Speyer
Geneviève Brouard was a friend and patron who frequently invited Beauford to her home to dine.
Portrait of Geneviève Brouard
(1964) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image by Discover Paris!
Lives in Art: Discussions on Beauford and Joseph Delaney
Top row: Jared Sprecher (L) and Mary Campbell (R)
Bottom: Fred Moffatt
UT Associate Professor Mary Campbell discusses Beauford, Professor Emeritus Fred Moffatt discusses Joseph, and Professor Jared Sprecher discusses both brothers.
Campbell gives a fascinating presentation about Beauford, including a detailed discussion of the derivation of the name of Beauford's first portrait of James Baldwin - Dark Rapture.
Dark Rapture
(1941) Oil on masonite
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Watch the entire discussion here:
https://vimeo.com/513051130
Beauford Showing in Two Southern "Villes"
Two southern cities are hosting exhibitions of Beauford's work this year.
In the aftermath of its solo exhibition entitled Beauford Delaney: Transcending Race and Time, the University of Tennessee (UT) Downtown Gallery is showing Beauford's work alongside that of his brother Joseph in the exhibition entitled The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art. It will be the first time the two artists’ works are shown together in their hometown.
All of Beauford's works are on loan from his estate, while works by Joseph are from the permanent collection of the
Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture. The show opened with a reception on Friday, February 5, as a part of Knoxville’s First Friday Art
Walk.
On February 15 at 7:30 PM, UTK professor Dr. Mary Campbell, professor emeritus Dr. Fred Moffatt, and professor of painting Jered Sprecher will come together for a panel discussion on the lives and art of the Delaney brothers. Register for the event HERE.
In anticipation of this scholarly exchange, Campbell said, “As the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the work of Beauford and Joseph Delaney, this show provides an invaluable opportunity to examine the connections and dissimilarities between the brothers’ art.”
The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art will run through Saturday, February 27.
UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
Telephone: (865) 673-0802
Hours: Wednesday
through Friday - 11 AM to 6 PM, Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM
This spring, the Asheville Art Museum (AAM) will welcome Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom.
This exhibition originated at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) and will be on display in Asheville, North Carolina from April 2 through June 21, 2021. It further explores the relationship between Beauford and James Baldwin that KMA's 2020 exhibition, Through the Unusual Door, exquisitely probed.
(1944) Pastel on paper
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The following description of the show comes from the February 2, 2021 article published by ArtFixDaily:
"Metamorphosis into Freedom includes more than 40 works by the painter that depict Baldwin, were inspired by or dedicated to Baldwin, illustrate key turning points in Delaney’s development as described in Baldwin’s writings, or document key places and events where their ongoing dialogue unfolded. The exhibition focuses special attention to a chapter in Delaney’s studio practice in which he intensified experiments with abstraction after moving to the Paris suburb of Clamart in late 1955."
AAM has scheduled two events in conjunction with the exhibition: a discussion of the Through the Unusual Door catalog with UTK professor Dr. Mary Campbell, and a discussion with Stephen Wicks, KMA’s Barbara W. & Bernard E. Bernstein Curator and organizing curator of Metamorphosis into Freedom. Both will be held in April 2021. For more information, click HERE.
Asheville Art Museum
2 South Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801
Telephone: (828) 253-3227
Hours: Open daily 11 AM –6 PM; late-night Thursdays until 9 PM; closed Tuesdays.
Overall capacity is limited, and timed admission tickets are required to
ensure safe attendance.
Online ticketing is strongly encouraged;
limited walk-in tickets may be available.
Beauford in the Johnson Collection
Housed at the TJC Gallery in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Johnson Collection consists of "1,200 objects with provenances that span the centuries and chronicle the cultural evolution of the American South." The gallery is currently hosting an exhibition called Excellence & Emancipation: African American Artists and the Harmon Foundation, in which two exquisite Beauford Delaney abstracts are hung.
I asked the gallery for an interview about the exhibition and Communications Specialist Anna Chandler graciously responded. Here's what she had to say:
Les Amis: How did TJC come to the decision to mount the Excellence & Emancipation exhibition?
TJC: The Johnson Collection exists to tell the story of Southern art, and we are always interested in following––and sharing––the unique threads that connect the artists in our collection.
The Harmon Foundation, which recognized excellence in eight fields of endeavor and became best known for its celebration of African American visual artists, profoundly impacted the careers of many artists represented in the Johnson Collection; its history offers a unique framework for curating an exhibition. Excellence & Emancipation allows us to showcase an array of artistic styles and techniques while also providing a rich historical context for our visiting public.
Les Amis: Are all the works shown in this exhibition part of the Johnson Collection?
TJC: Yes, all exhibitions at TJC Gallery, the Johnson Collection’s exhibition space in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, are curated entirely from the collection’s holdings.
Les Amis: Is the exhibition accessible virtually or only through in-person visits?
TJC: Guests can visit the exhibition in-person, and all of the works in Excellence & Emancipation, as well as biographies of each artist on view, are available at thejohnsoncollection.org.
TJC’s social media accounts (@thejohnsoncollection on Instagram, facebook.com/thejohnsoncollection on Facebook, and @johnsoncollect1 on Twitter) offer a closer look at the exhibition while it is on view.
Les Amis: Three Beauford Delaney works are part of the collection. How / why did you select Abstraction No. 9 and Untitled to be part of this exhibition?
TJC: Abstraction No. 9 and Untitled are strong examples of Delaney’s fully abstracted works, which are among his most celebrated. Additionally, Abstraction No. 9 demonstrates Delaney’s use of his signature color, yellow, which he called “the color of his sacred light.”
(circa 1963) Oil on canvas
51 1/4 x 38 1/8 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of the Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Les Amis: Is Untitled signed? Dated?
TJC: It is signed in the upper right in pencil; it is not dated.
Oil on canvas
51 x 38 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of the Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Les Amis: Do you have / can you share the text of the biographies published about Beauford in the 1933 and 1935 Harmon Foundation catalogs?
A PDF of the 1933 catalog is available online. Delaney’s biography in that text is as follows:
Beauford DeLaney, New York - Born 1905 in Tennessee; educated in public schools, and studied art at Massachusetts Normal Art, South Boston School of Art, and Copley Society. Works as telephone operator at Whitney Museum. Exhibited at Whitney Galleries in 1930; 135th Street Branch of N. Y. Public Library, 1930; 42nd Street Branch of N. Y. Public Library. 1932; Cooperative Art Market and Roxy Theatre, 1933. Work shown in Harmon Exhibit of 1933.*
Les Amis: Where/how did you acquire your Beauford Delaney works (private acquisitions, auction…)?
TJC: All three of our Beauford Delaney works were acquired directly from the artist’s estate.
Les Amis: Have you ever loaned any of Beauford’s works for exhibition?
TJC: TJC’s Beauford Delaney pieces have not been a part of any recent exhibitions.
TJC Gallery
154 West Main Street
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29306
Telephone: (864) 594-5834
Website: https://thejohnsoncollection.org/
*Though several images of works shown in the 1933 exhibition are provided in the catalog, Beauford's sole submission - a pastel called Minstrel - is not among them.
Exuberance is Beauty
One of Beauford's favorite writers was William Blake.
I find the following quote by Blake to be a perfect description for many of Beauford's abstract expressionist works:
"Exuberance is beauty."
Below are images of a few paintings and works on paper that I find to be exuberant and beautiful!
(1954-1956) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1962) Mixed media on paper
Signed, dated, and dedicated at bottom right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1964) Gouache
Signed and dated at bottom right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1957) Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1964) Oil on canvas
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image by Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art
During Black History Month, the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery will show works by Beauford and his brother, Joseph, in an exhibition entitled The Delaney Brothers: Lives In Art. It is being mounted just over twenty years after what was to have been a joint October-November 1970 exhibition opened at the McClung Gallery on UTK's campus.
Promotional image from UT Downtown Gallery Website
Due to Beauford's increasing mental instability, he was unable to fulfill his commitment to send paintings to Knoxville, and the show became a solo exhibition for Joseph.
Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, and Joseph's biographer, Frederick Moffatt, devote 2-3 pages to this event in their respective publications.
Leeming describes the prospect of creating and shipping the artwork and making the voyage to Knoxville to attend the exhibition as overwhelming for Beauford. He quotes from a letter sent to Joseph in which Beauford praises Joseph's work and explains why he was unable to contribute to the show:
"My health is good considering all things but I must be careful and many things I would like to do must wait until my condition is more composed."
Moffatt also quotes passages from the letter, focusing more on the congratulatory nature of the missive:
"Your time has arrived as it should be, you have not only lifted the Delaneys but also you [have given] to Paris something for your brother Beauford."
From Leeming, we learn that Joseph sent Beauford photos of the exhibition.
From Moffatt, we learn that the show was Joseph's first major retrospective and that it consisted of thirty-three paintings and eight drawings.
Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art will open on Friday, February 5 with a reception hosted by the university from 5 PM to 8 PM. It will be open for viewing on Wednesdays through Fridays from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM, and on Saturdays from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM through February 27, 2021.
There is no cost to attend - entry is free.
UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street
Knoxville TN 37902
Contact: Mike Berry
Email:
Telephone: 865-673-0802
Beauford's Portrait of a Nude Woman
According to biographer David Leeming, Beauford "revealed himself publicly as a modernist" via a monographic exhibition at the Vendome art gallery in midtown Manhattan in January-February 1941. He presented "new cityscapes" and "trademark" portraits, including a pastel of his mother, Delia.
But one portrait in the show was distinctly not "trademark." It was a nude painting of a young white dancer named Jessie.
Leeming goes on to say that Beauford rarely painted nudes and that when he took classes at the Art Students' League, he was "relieved to discover the unwritten rule that black painters not attend life classes when the female models were white." He identifies Jessie as the girlfriend of James Baldwin's friend, Emile Capouya, and he says Jessie insisted that Beauford paint her.
Though I have never seen an image of this painting, I believe it is represented in the photograph below.
Beauford in his Greene Street studio, New York City, 1944
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Two paintings are seen, side by side, "behind" the ceiling light in this photo.
The one on the right is Untitled (The Artist and Woman Seated), dated 1940. It was offered for auction by Swann Auction Galleries in October 2018, but was not sold. The auction catalog speculated that the young woman seated next to Beauford could be Jessie.
Untitled (The Artist and Woman Seated) 1940)
Oil on linen canvas
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1941) Oil on masonite
Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Happy New Year from Les Amis de Beauford Delaney!
I find the untitled painting shown below to be a wonderful metaphor for 2021.
(1959) Oil on canvas
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, USA
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
To me, it represents a juxtaposition of turbulence and hope ...
Turbulence through the powerful energy of the swirls that move through the center of the painting, stirring up the atmosphere around it ...
and hope because of the colors Beauford chose to represent this energy and atmosphere.
Instead of using somber hues, he chose white for the energy surge and sky blue for its backdrop.
Splotches of yellow, peach, rose, and green admixed with the energy channel and surrounding it give me a light feeling and remind me of spring - the season of rebirth and infinite possibility.
May 2021 be a year filled with powerful, positive energy for you and yours!
50 Years Ago - Beauford's Abstracts
Last week, I brought you a post about the difficulties Beauford had during the year 1970 and showed images of several portraits he produced that year.
Despite his troubles, Beauford had several successes in 1970. Among them was his participation in a group exhibition called Afro-American Artists Abroad, which was shown at the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Dorchester, Massachusetts and the University of Texas Art Museum in Austin, TX.
The images of several 1970 abstract works that I'm presenting today call to mind a statement written about Beauford's œuvre for the exhibition catalog by art professor James Lewis:
"Radiates the joy of an artist with one concern, the challenging joy of painting."
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Robert Tricoire
(1970) Mixed media on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Mixed media on cardboard
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
(circa 1970) Oil on canvas
Collection Walker Art Center
Gift of the Kunin Family, 2014
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Christie's Images, 2013
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
50 Years Ago - Beauford's Portraits
1970 was a difficult year for Beauford.
Elsa Honig Fine of the University of Tennessee invited him and his brother Joseph to do a joint exhibition of works at the McClung Museum Gallery there, but the prospect was too much for his fragile physical and mental health.
Though he agreed to participate in the show during his Christmas holiday visit to Knoxville in 1969, he avoided communicating about the event for months - ignoring requests for shipping and travel dates as well as information about the works he would display.
It was only during the summer of 1970 that he finally admitted he would not contribute to the exhibition, which became a solo show for Joseph Delaney.
And yet, Beauford produced numerous paintings and works on paper in 1970 - including a striking self-portrait. Here are images of several of them.
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sold!
Both Beauford Delaney paintings that were offered at Phillips' December 8, 2020 morning sale of 20th-century modern and contemporary art sold at handsome prices.
The estimated sale price for the 1964 self-portrait shown below (Lot 193) was $30,000 - $40,000.
(1964) oil on canvas
Signed, inscribed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY, PARIS 1964" on the reverse
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(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
Beauford Delaney: Transcending Race and Time
The University of Tennessee (UT) Downtown Gallery is hosting an exhibition of a selection of paintings and drawings on loan from the Estate of Beauford Delaney. The First Friday opening was held on December 4, 2020.
Beauford Delaney: Transcending Race and Time is an exhibition of twenty-one works that includes four oil on canvas paintings, abstract watercolors, pastel portraits, and three self-portraits. Some of the pieces in this show have never been exhibited publicly.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The self-portrait selected to advertise the exhibition is dated 1953, the year that Beauford moved to Paris. It is similar to two self-portraits, a crayon on newsprint dated 1962 and a charcoal and pastel on newsprint dated 1963, from the Knoxville Museum of Art collection that was shown at the museum's Gathering Light exhibition in 2017.
Here are several views of the exhibition, provided by Beauford's estate.
Images courtesy of the Estate of Beauford Delaney
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estate's last public showing of Beauford's work was held during the "In a Speculative Light" symposium organized by Dr. Amy Elias, Director of the UT Humanities Center in February 2020. That exhibition was held in the Student Union Art Gallery on UT's campus.
The Downtown Gallery is a contemporary art gallery exhibiting professional work through funding and support from The University of Tennessee.
- Exhibition dates: December 5, 2020 to January 30, 2021
- Hours: Wednesday - Friday 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM and Saturday 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
- Price: Free
- Contact Name: Mike Berry
- Contact Email:
- Location:
UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902(865) 673-0802
The UT Downtown Gallery will be closed December 24, 25, 26, 31, and January 1.
Look. Look Again: - A Remarkable Online Exhibition
A few days ago, Andrew Schoelkopf of Menconi + Schoelkopf, a fine art gallery in NYC, contacted me to inform me about a magnificent online exhibition of Beauford's work that is being presented by the gallery through December 6, 2020.
Look. Look Again: Beauford Delaney's Intimate Discoveries showcases a small, incredibly vibrant collection of works on paper dating from 1958-1969.
Two of the images in the exhibition immediately brought to mind a work that I featured in a 2019 post called "Capturing the Shock of Life."
Untitled (Abstract composition)
(1958) Oil on wove paper
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The document that accompanies Look. Look Again: describes Beauford's "construction" of abstract works created during his Clamart period (1956-1962) and refers to them as being suggestive of the cosmos.
It also quotes curator Sue Canterbury's reference to Beauford's interest in sunspots in her catalog for the Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris exhibition that she mounted at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2004. Canterbury notes that Beauford exhibited a work called Cosmos at the Roko Gallery in NYC in 1952.
The oil on paper shown above and the two similar works in the Look. Look Again: exhibition definitely evoke the cosmos for me.
Find the Menconi + Schoelkopf online exhibition here: Look. Look Again: Beauford Delaney's Intimate Discoveries
To Be Sold
At its December 8, 2020 morning sale of 20th-century modern and contemporary art, Phillips is offering two of Beauford's works as part of its sale of the Royall Collection of Black Contemporary Artists.
The 1964 self-portrait shown below is one of at least three done by Beauford that year.
(1964) oil on canvas
Signed, inscribed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY, PARIS 1964" on the reverse
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It was once part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and is now in a private collection.
(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
Sothebys in NYC listed a lyrical Beauford Delaney watercolor on paper for sale during its Contemporary Art Day Auction Online on November 18, 2020.
Untitled
Lot 275
(1961) Watercolor on paper
Signed twice, dated 61 twice and variously inscribed
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Because of the inscription "San Telmo Mallorca" at the lower left, we can surmise that Beauford painted this while visiting Spain with his friends the O'Reillys and the Boggses after his suicide attempts in Greece earlier in the summer.
The lot was withdrawn from sale.
Beauford at Phillips Auction House
Two Beauford Delaney works from the Royall Collection will be offered at auction during Phillips' December 7, 2020 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale.
The late William Royall and his wife, accumulated numerous works by African American artists, including Amy Sherald and Mickalene Thomas. Thirty-three (33) pieces from their collection will be auctioned next month.
I plan to publish images and details about the Beauford Delaney works for sale in a future blog post.
Today, I'm (re)sharing images of works by Beauford that Phillips has sold in the past. Just two years ago, they offered three of Beauford's abstracts - two oils and one gouache on paper - for purchase at two auctions.
In the 26 September 2018 sale, the gouache on paper sold for $15,000 (highest estimated price - $12,000).
Signed, inscribed and dated "Beauford Delaney Mallorca 1961" lower right
(1961) gouache on paper
25 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. (64.8 x 49.5 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The yellow oil painting sold for $150,000 (highest estimated price - $30,000).
Signed, inscribed and dated "Beauford Delaney Paris 1965 midday" on the reverse
(1965) Oil on canvas
25 1/2 x 21 in. (64.8 x 53.3 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
In the 14 November 2018 sale, a second yellow oil painting sold for $118,750 (highest estimated price - $30,000).
(1967) Oil on canvas
21 3/4 x 18 in. (55.2 x 45.7 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Stay tuned for further news about the 7 December 2020 sale.
Autumn Colors
Today, I'm sharing images of works by Beauford that make me think of - and feel the beauty of - this season.
(1964) Gouache
Signed and dated at bottom right
55 x 37 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Mixed media on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(c. 1958-1959) Oil on paper, laid down on canvas
Image courtesy of Aaron Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1958) Oil on canvas
On loan from a private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1962) Watercolor and gouache on paper
© Christie's Images
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford and the Portrait of Stanislas Rodanski
© Entrée to Black Paris
The photo was published in a journal called Le Musée Vivant, which was founded in 1937 by a French woman named Madeleine Rousseau.
When I arrived at the exhibition, I found that in addition to artwork created by young African-diaspora artists living in Paris and Brussels, curator Amandine Nana had made a small archive of articles and photos from Le Musée Vivant available for consultation. I was thrilled to discover that the photo of Beauford appeared on the cover of Issue No. 23-24, 3e Trim 1964, entitled "Les Artistes dans leur Atelier."
© Entrée to Black Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris
The journal describes visits to many artist studios, including Beauford's. In a two-page article about the visit to Beauford's studio, Rousseau waxes poetic about the works she and others viewed there. She identifies the figure in the portrait shown in the photograph as being opera singer Sergei Radamsky and describes how the visitors' observations about this painting led the conversation first to music, then to science. She quotes Julian Alvard, the organizer of an exhibition called Le Nuage Crève to which Beauford contributed a yellow abstract, saying that Alvard referred to Beauford's painting as "an emanation of the sun." The rest of the article delves into a recitation of recent astronomical discoveries and ends with a philosophical musing about how art precedes science.
I immediately thought to myself that the subject of the portrait, which is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of New York, was identified as surrealist poet Stanislas Rodanski.
1963 Oil on canvas
1992.296
Beauford Delaney (1901-1979)
(c) Droits réservés
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
George A. Hearn Fund, 1992
I searched for images of Radamsky on the Internet and came up with the one found on this Amazon site: Der Ve[r]fo[l]gte Tenor
Though Beauford often took liberties with his portrayals of people in his portraits, there are significant similarities between the photo portrait found at the above mentioned link and Beauford's 1963 portrait.
In my article about the portrait at the Met, I mention that it is questionable whether Beauford ever met Rodanski because Rodanski was confined to a mental institution in Lyon in 1953 – the same year that Beauford arrived in Paris. Rodanski was 27 years old at the time and he never left the institution, dying there in 1981.
It is much more likely that Beauford painted Radamsky, whom he met in New York and with whom he traveled to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in 1954. Radamsky (1890-1973) would have been 73 years old at the time Beauford produced this painting.
Beauford at MoMA
One is a portrait of Howard Swanson, a classical music composer who lived in Paris from 1952 to 1966.
This other is Composition 16, the magnificent Abstract Expressionist painting that stopped my heart when I saw an image of it online several years ago.
(1954-1956) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Artist Glenn Ligon wrote the following about the painting for the 2019 publication Among Others: Blackness at MoMA:
“Have been working and living with the many people who make up Beauford,” Beauford Delaney wrote to his great friend James Baldwin in September 1954, “and trying to merge them into some sense of composition and a workable form of painting.” Composition 16, a modestly sized work on canvas composed of swirling, wormlike strokes of yellow, red, orange, ocher, pale green, and blue paint, some squeezed directly from the tube, is a vivid example of Delaney’s quest to unite disparate aspects of his interior life and artistic practice while keeping a promise to continue “doing all that is possible with paint.” With its suggestion of ground, sun, sky, and allover painting technique, Composition 16 fuses landscape and abstraction, depicting light and color as ecstatic matter. The color yellow, scumbled liberally over the surface of the painting as a unifying element and predominating in many of Delaney’s abstract and figurative works from the period, seems to have held a particular fascination for the artist.
Composition 16 is currently on display at MoMA as part of an on-going, 10-work exhibition entitled Action Painting II. It is installed in Room 405 on the fourth floor in the David Geffen Galleries.
All the works included in this show are part of MoMA's collection. They have been brought together as an exploration of the innovation expressed by selected Abstract Expressionist artists through experimentation with "a variety of materials and techniques." The companion exhibition, Action Painting I, is also on display on the fourth floor (Room 403).
From MoMA's Website:
"Art critic Harold Rosenberg coined the term 'action painting' in 1952 to describe the work of artists who painted using bold gestures that engaged more of the body than traditional easel painting. Often the viewer can see broad brushstrokes, drips, splashes, or other evidence of the physical action that took place upon the canvas."
Click HERE to see a photo of Composition 16 hung next to Helen Frankenthaler's Jacob's Ladder.
Beauford and Bernard Hassell
Today, I'm sharing images of three of Beauford's Bernard Hassell portraits.
(Undated) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1968) Gouache on paper
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(ca. 1971) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The undated portrait may have been painted in 1966. Biographer David Leeming notes that when he stayed with Beauford prior to driving him to Istanbul for a visit with James Baldwin, Beauford showed him "an amazing profusion of yellow abstractions intermingled with extraordinary portraits whom the painter identified as Walter Anderson, James Baldwin, Bernard Hassell, and many others."
This portrait of Bernard Hassell was shown in the Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective [50 Years of Light] exhibition at the Philippe Briet Gallery in New York in February - March 1991.
In June 1968, Hassell took Beauford to the south of France after finding him wandering the streets in confusion after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leeming indicates that they stayed in three places over a period of six weeks, including a "castle" in Avignon. In the 1968 portrait of Hassell, perhaps Beauford is portraying him in the image of this or another building in which they resided during this extended trip.
The inscription in this portrait seems to indicate "Sadagne France." This may be a reference to the town of Châteauneuf de Gadagne, which is not far from Avignon.
In 1971, Beauford once again suffered serious psychological trauma upon learning of the death of his nephew, Sam (Junior). Biographer Leeming describes him as going into "several weeks of steep decline" as a result. James Baldwin learned of Beauford's condition and had him brought to Baldwin's new home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where Hassell had taken up residence in the gatehouse.
I Will Not Be Moved - A Look at Beauford's Rosa Parks Series
Professor Campbell brings students to Paris for a study abroad art history experience each year. Last summer, Wells International Foundation intern Maija Brennan presented her online exhibition of Beauford's portraiture to Campbell's students.
Campbell's son was part of the Classes Duo Paris/Knoxville program and was one of the children who came to Paris in October 2018 to meet the Paris elementary school students who participated in the program.
In the video below, Campbell delivers a virtual "Cocktails & Conversation" presentation for the Knoxville Museum of Art that provides a wonderful overview of Beauford's career as an artist and takes a deep dive into his Rosa Parks series. She asserts her theory that Beauford's Rosa Parks paintings are actually self-portraits.
One might think this strange, but when you look at the 1962 self-portrait below, you may be more willing to entertain this notion.
Self Portrait, 1962
Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney; Private Collection
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
In her presentation, Campbell thoroughly examines the three oil paintings and numerous sketches of Rosa Parks that are presented in Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door, the magnificent KMA exhibition that is currently on view at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
I encourage you to watch her in this ~47-minute video and come to your own conclusion!