50th Anniversary of Beauford's Solo Show at Galerie Darthea Speyer
Just over 50 years ago, the Darthea Speyer Gallery opened a solo exhibition of Beauford's work. Biographer David Leeming states that in this show, "... what stood out were the portraits composed during the years since the 1964 Lambert show." He says that Beauford's purpose in painting these portraits seems to have been to "celebrate the art of painting itself."
Below are images of several of the portraits shown during the 1973 Speyer exhibition.
(1965) Oil on canvas
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(196?) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(Undated) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1964) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
(1967) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
(1972) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(c. 1968) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
Beauford and John-Franklin Koenig
John-Franklin Koenig was an American painter who served in the Second World War and moved to Paris in 1948 to study under the GI Bill. In 1950, he and Frenchman Jean-Robert Arnaud opened the Galerie Arnaud in the basement of Arnaud's bookstore at 34, rue du Four, and in 1953, the two men launched the contemporary art publication called Cimaise.
Beauford's biographer, David A. Leeming, mentions Koenig only twice in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney. He lists Koenig among the friends Beauford made in the American artist community when he moved to Paris in 1953, and he talks about a 1956 art exhibition at Galerie Arnaud where Beauford exhibited works alongside fellow abstract American artists Sam Francis, Shirley Goldfarb, Joe Downing, Shirley Jaffe, Paul Jenkins, and others.
Several years after the art exhibition, Beauford created this portrait of Koenig.
(1968) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 1968; signed again,
titled and dated again 1968 on the reverse;
titled again on the stretcher
25 1/2 by 21 1/4 in.
64.8 by 54 cm.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I have not been able to find out how Beauford and Koenig met and do not know how often they saw each other over the years.
An interesting passage in "L'anachronique du flâneur N° 12," which contains commentary on the 2016 Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition, writer Marc Albert-Levin lets us know that Beauford and Koenig lunched together in 1967:
That same year, in 1967, we had lunch with [jazz saxophonist] Marion Brown and Beauford Delaney, at John Koenig's apartment .... I would lie if I said that I remember what we talked about with Beauford that day. I just remember some harmonious time spent together by the four people present--Beauford, John, Marion and I--all happy to share a good bottle and a good meal, amid Koenig's paintings and collages, in his small attic apartment.
I imagine that Beauford must have appreciated Koenig since he took the time to create a portrait of him. The painting, which presents a good likeness of Koenig, was auctioned by Sotheby's during its March 9, 2011 Contemporary Art sale and purchased for $7,500.
Swann Auction Galleries Auctions Brilliant Blue Beauford Delaney Gouache
On April 6, 2023, Swann Auction Galleries auctioned the abstract work shown below.
(1956) Gouache on illustration board
724x540 mm; 28 1/2x21 1/4 inches
Signed and dated in ink, lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford painted this work when he lived in the Paris suburb of Clamart. Hues of blue predominate, which makes me recall a statement James Baldwin made about the window of the Clamart apartment that Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, quoted in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney:
... a kind of universe, moaning and wailing when it rained, black and bitter when it thundered, hesitant and delicate with the first light of morning, and as blue as the blues when the last light of sun departed.
Leeming described works that Beauford showed at the Galerie Arnaud and the Galerie Prisme in early 1956 as "abstractions marked by large areas of paint applied thickly in swirls and various colors--blues, pinks, softer colors than those of the Greene Street period." This work "matches" that description.
Swann's Website indicates that Beauford worked on board in the mid-1950s for only a short time and that his later gouaches were typically done on paper. The estimated sale price for this work on illustration board was $35,000 - $50,000.
The abstract sold for $60,000, including Buyer's Premium (the hammer price was $48,000).
Beauford and Tchaikovsky
In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David A. Leeming notes that Beauford wrote notes in which he compared his life to that of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky was a gay man who lived as a bachelor for much of his life and left his first and only marriage after two and a half months. Beauford wrote about Tchaikovsky's "sad experiences" and "the analogy of the sentiments and emotional need resident in my own consciousness resolving itself to accepting the inevitable responsibilities ... and the acceptance of one's destiny ..."
Beauford loved classical music and I imagine that he may have listened to recordings of Tchaikovsky compositions while penning the thoughts above. In today's blog, I'm sharing excerpts from some of Tchaikovsky's most famous works and pairing Beauford Delaney abstracts with them. Click on the links in the captions to listen to the music.
(1962) Mixed media on paper
Signed, dated, and dedicated at bottom right
74 x 53.5 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Swan Lake (Swan Theme)"
(c. 1955) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Enchanted Lake"
Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Sue Canterbury
Paired with
"Piano Concerto No. 1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 23, TH.55 - 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso"
(1963) Watercolor on thick wove paper
660 x 508 mm; 26 x 20 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Waltz of the Flowers"
Metamorphosis into Freedom at the Institut Giacometti
On 4 March 2023 I published an article about Metamorphosis into Freedom, the itinerant art exhibition organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA).
On 29 March 2023, the Institut Giacometti Ecole des Modernités is hosting the organizer of this exhibition, Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator Stephen Wicks, for a virtual presentation of the same name. Wicks will present an overview of Beauford's career and then focus on Beauford's studio practice during and after his move to France.
Blue-Light Abstraction (detail)(c. 1962) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Wicks has led KMA's curatorial department for more than twenty-five years. He manages the museum's exhibition program and oversees the development of its collections of East Tennessee-related art and international contemporary art. He was instrumental in helping the KMA build the world’s largest and most comprehensive public collection of Knoxville-born painter Beauford Delaney’s works of art.
In December 2021, I published a two-part article* in which Wicks and Professor Rachel Cohen discuss one of Beauford's portraits of James Baldwin. As part of the conversation, Wicks describes how he found a sketch of Alberto Giacometti in one of Beauford's sketchbooks and mentions that Beauford knew Giacometti. I imagine that Wicks will delve more deeply into the connection between the two men during his presentation.
The Institut Giacometti's Ecole des Modernités is an art history program created to enhance understanding of the decisive period in which Giacometti lived and worked. Invited international art historians and curators present new research that sheds new light on a period of modern art history through the original study of an artist, movement, or context. A large part of the program's focus is on non-French artists who moved to Paris to pursue their work.
The "Metamorphosis into Freedom" conference will be held on March 29 at 12:30 PM Eastern Time / 6:30 PM Paris time.
To register, click HERE.
*Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 1
Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 2
Les Amis Reminisces about Spring Postings
It's becoming a habit ...
Posting about springtime on the blog each year ...
This year, my February post was early, but it was aligned with this spirit.
It also inspired me to search the blog archives to remind myself of what I've posted in previous years.
Here are the links to this year's post and to posts from 2021 and 2022:
Early Spring at Sainte Anne's Hospital
And here are images a few more Beauford Delaney works that make me think of spring!
Oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 38 1/8 inches (130 x 97 cm)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Watercolor on paper
Signed and dated lower left in red ink, "Beauford Delaney 1971"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Case Antiques
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
Metamorphosis into Freedom at the Hunter Museum of American Art
Metamorphosis into Freedom is a traveling exhibition organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA).* Featuring more than 40 paintings and works on paper, this show examines the evolution of Beauford's career within the context of his 38-year friendship with James Baldwin.
Inspired by KMA's extraordinary exhibition entitled Through the Unusual Door, it explores the ways that Beauford and Baldwin’s ongoing intellectual exchange shaped one another’s creative output and worldview.
Metamorphosis Into Freedom was shown at the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC from April 2 to June 21, 2022. It is now on view at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN, where visitors will be able to enjoy it through May 1, 2023.
The Hunter Museum chose Beauford's Untitled (Abstract Circles) to represent the exhibition on its Website.
(1956) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It has organized an impressive series of events that are inspired by the show:
On March 9, it is offering a workshop in partnership program with CHI Memorial's Art Therapies & Well Being Program that focuses on teen mental health, identity and sexuality with the intent to explore health and social justice in the Chattanooga community.
On March 16, Stephen Wicks, the Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator of the Knoxville Museum of Art and exhibition organizer, will give an in-gallery tour of the exhibit and offer insights into the artist and his works.
On March 23, the museum has organized a poetic exploration of Beauford and Baldwin's friendship that will include remarks from Ricardo Morris, founder of the Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas.
On April 15, a virtual event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hunter’s Student Symposium will explore the topic of "Intersecting Queerness." Featuring the work of nationwide undergraduate students (Louisville, Temple, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and Yale), each presentation will offer insight into the next generation of thought leaders.
And on April 27, a program entitled "'Dimension' Fusing Vision Art And Performance" will feature dance photography and spoken word performances.
With the exception of the in-gallery tour, for which regular admission fees to the museum apply, all events are free and open to the public.
For more information, visit Hunter Museum of Art: Metamorphosis into Freedom
*KMA owns the largest and most comprehensive public collection of Beauford’s art in the world.
A Close(r) Look at Can Fire in the Park
On Thursday, February 9, 2023, the National Portrait Gallery hosted an online event called "In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice."
It was one of a series of monthly events through which educators from the National Portrait Gallery partner with colleagues from across the Smithsonian to discuss how historical objects from their respective collections speak to today’s social justice issues.
This most recent dialogue featured Beauford's Can Fire in the Park, juxtaposing it with a haunting photographic self-portrait by LaToya Ruby Frazier. Both works were discussed with the intent to explore the following question:
"How does a community sustain well-being in the face of systemic inequity?"
The conversation began with an evaluation of Can Fire in the Park, painted during Beauford's New York years.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The moderators asked attendees to type in the chat what they saw in the painting.
Responses included "silhouetted figures," "warmth," "circles," "lots of vibrant colors," and "heavy, with layers of design."
The moderators then asked attendees to type how the painting made them feel.
Responses included "hopeful," "a bit of sadness," "isolation," and "inequity and solidarity at the same time."
The more comments I read, the more my view of Can Fire began to shift. I realized that I had never truly examined the elements of this celebrated work.
I took advantage of the link provided by the Smithsonian to look at an image of the work on its Website, and I spent a lot of time using the zoom function to look at parts of the painting I had only skimmed over before.
One of the comments referred to the possibility that the scene was set on a basketball court. I realized that I had never paid attention to the red lines on the ground behind the group huddled around the can.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I looked at the fire that gives the painting its name. For the first time, I saw what appears to be a circular object at the top of the can, the edges of which Beauford traced in vivid blue. Though the body of the can is glowing, the fire seems to emerge from this orb-like structure.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I looked at the two human figures at the periphery of the group. Both have their arms crossed and both seem distant from the four people in the center. I always considered their arms to be folded because they were cold. But in looking at the painting through the lens of community, I now wonder if they are strangers to the people gathered around the can.
Another possibility is that they are standing guard so the people next to the fire can warm themselves undisturbed.
The person at the far left of the painting is well splattered with yellow. Perhaps light is shining on this figure, and perhaps the irregularly shaped caramel brown figure between this person and the short upward pointing arrow represents a shadow.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I had always viewed the humans in the paintings as men. That night, for the first time, I thought that the person immediately to the right of the can might be a woman. The curved gold line atop the head (possibly a scarf or large ribbon) seems to wind its way down to the chest and torso of this person, and the curvature at the chest evokes a bustline. The broad strokes moving up and away from the face may represent a hair style - perhaps a large braid.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Because of the height of the person immediately to "her" right, this figure may represent a teen or a large child.
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Then there is the figure standing at the left of the group of four people who are closest to the can. It is almost entirely outlined in yellow-gold.
Might this be a representation of Beauford himself?
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford's Pastel Portrait of a Man Sold by Case Antiques
A couple of weeks ago, I announced that Beauford's Portrait of a Man would be auctioned by Case Antiques on January 28-29, 2023:
Pastel Portrait of a Man to Be Auctioned by Case Antiques
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Case Antiques
The auction produced a fantastic result — the work sold for $48,000, including buyer's premium (hammer price: $40,000), which far exceeded the estimated sales price of $10,000 - $12,000.
Sarah Campbell Drury, Vice President of Fine and Decorative Arts at Case Antiques, said the following about the sale:
"As you know, Delaney is one of the few African American Abstract Expressionists to hail from the South, and interest in his work has been steadily rising in recent years. We believe this is a record price for a Delaney portrait on paper. The buyer was a private collector bidding in the room."
The Knoxville News Sentinel covered the auction with what might be described as exuberance. Journalist Devarrick Turner published an article on January 27 entitled "Place your bid! Here’s how you can own a Beauford Delaney original portrait," providing information about the work, instructions on how and where to bid, background information on Beauford and the future Delaney Museum at Beck, and images of additional Beauford Delaney works.
Turner followed up on the sale by publishing an article entitled "Beauford Delaney's 'Portrait of a Man' Shatters Auction Sale Price Expectations."
Knoxville's local ABC news affiliate, WATE, also published an in-depth article prior to the sale and updated its story with the auction result.
Dolan/Maxwell Shows Beauford Abstract at The Winter Show
The Winter Show, America’s premiere art, antiques, and design fair, brings together the world's leading fine and decorative arts dealers. The fair was founded by East Side House Settlement in 1954 to raise critical funds to support tens of thousands of New Yorkers who are most in need.
East Side House is a community-based organization serving the Bronx and Northern Manhattan; its programs focus on education and technology as gateways out of poverty and as the keys to economic opportunity. All ticket sales proceeds from The Winter Show provide unrestricted funds for East Side House's life-changing programs.
Dolan/Maxwell Gallery is showing rare and important works by Modern African American masters, including Romare Bearden, Robert Blackburn, Ed Clark, and Dox Thrash, at the fair.
The luscious Beauford Delaney abstract shown below is one of them.
(1960) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Dolan/Maxwell Gallery
Ron Rumford, Director at Dolan/Maxwell, comments on this painting as follows:
Beauford Delaney’s non-objective yellow canvases made soon after he established himself in Paris each have very distinct, rich surfaces. Untitled 1960 is notable for its creamy paint textures and soft, closely modulated palette of greens, yellows, hints of orange and very pale greys. Delaney’s use of color is structural and patterns not unlike camouflage seem to almost emerge.
Alas, no set pattern exists, and the very buttery paint has seduced our eyes, leading our gaze over and all around the lush surface. Untitled 1960 is a luminous painting with a quiet, almost spiritual glow that has been carefully coaxed into being with each of Delaney’s expressive brushstrokes.This painting is also distinctive in that Delaney has included his Paris address “Clamart Seine France 68 R P V Couturier”, along with his signature and year of creation on the back of this quietly powerful canvas.
Image courtesy of Dolan/Maxwell Gallery
The Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory continues through Sunday, January 29, 2023.
For more information about the show, click HERE.
To learn about Dolan/Maxwell at The Winter Show, click HERE.
A Unique Take on Still Lifes
I've written about Beauford's Untitled (Grape Motif) here many times.
(1946/1960) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I first learned of this work in 2013, when Ron Rumford, Director of Dolan/Maxwell informed me that the gallery was placing it up for sale.
In 2015, I had the privilege of viewing the work myself, when Rumford took me to see it hanging in the office of Dr. William A. Dodd in Center City Philadelphia.
It has changed hands a few times since then and was shown at Art Basel Miami 2022 by the Schoelkopf Gallery.
It is now in a private collection.
For the longest time, the striking jagged, colorful lines surrounding the grapes in this work reminded me of another Beauford Delaney creation that I couldn't quite place in my mind.
I finally took the time to look for an image of the second work - and I found it in my digital folder devoted to works held by the Whitney Museum of American Art.
(1950) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art
I asked Rumford and the Schoelkopf Gallery to comment on the obvious similarities between the two works.
Rumford had the following to say:
It is wonderful to learn of the Whitney’s Beauford Delaney pastel with mushrooms and leaves. We did not know of it when we had the still life with grapes pastel.Erin O'Neill, Director of Research at the Schoelkopf Gallery, responded as follows:Surrounding rather humble subjects with radiating, dynamic zigging and zagging color is a unique approach to still life. Discovering a similar example of this way of working is very satisfying.
This work also calls to mind a 1952 oil we sold some 20 years ago with an African sculpture as the still life subject.
Untitled (African sculpture)
(1952) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Dolan/MaxwellThese three works show Delaney moving away from drawing or painting from the approach of observing objects within and relating to their setting.
Surely the sculpture, mushrooms, leaves and grapes are observed. Surrounding the chosen objects with electric color and forms that break from rational space move these works into another realm of expression having more to do with feeling than recording what is seen.
I also find it interesting that these works were made just before Beauford Delaney leaves New York for Paris.*
While this work was produced in 1960, when Delaney resided in Paris, the concentric outlines harken back to a similar motif Delaney explored in another untitled pastel he made a decade earlier, now held in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art (1950).
Embodying the space between representation and abstraction, in the 1950 pastel, Delaney reimagined a classic modernist subject, a still life of mushrooms and botanicals, and injected it with a nonfigurative sense of color and form. The vegetation becomes electrified as the jagged outline of the leaves repeats itself, echoing outwards until bouncing off of the composition's edges.
In the 1960 example, Delaney advanced his investigation into this motif, but instead used grapes and softened the edges between the bands of color. These pastels convey Delaney's prowess for color and creation.
Form is not the only modernist element employed rhythmically in the works, color is also reiterated diversely—for instance, in the 1960 composition, the orange pastel is used as a band of color at the left of the pictorial field, as a sinuous contour towards the work's center, and as articulated highlights on the rounded forms of the grapes and their stems.
*After discussion with curators and among themselves regarding the style of Untitled (Grape Motif), Dolan/Maxwell determined that it was more consistent with works Beauford created in the 1940s. They believe Beauford may have signed and dated it much later than he actually created it.
Pastel Portrait of a Man to Be Auctioned by Case Antiques
Beauford's Portrait of a Man will be auctioned by Case Antiques on January 28-29, 2023.
The Two-Day Winter Fine Art, Antique, and Jewelry Auction will take place at the Knoxville Gallery, Knoxville, TN beginning at 9 AM Eastern Time on Saturday, January 28 and at 1 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, January 29.
This unsigned, undated work on paper has been assigned Lot No. 145. It comes directly from the Beauford Delaney estate. The subject of the portrait is unknown.
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Case Antiques
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
For more information about the auction, click HERE.
In Search of Purple
Yesterday morning, I awakened to the thought that I couldn't remember ever seeing a Beauford Delaney work in which the dominant color was purple.
Of course, there are numerous shades of purple, and of course, Beauford used purple as an accentuating color in scores of paintings.
But I was hard pressed to come up with a mental image of a painting or work on paper that "screamed purple."
So I set about looking at my digital catalog to see if I could find at least one.
I never did.
But here are some images of several works that came close - either Beauford painted a single large area with purple or he used this color as the dominant accent for the work.
(1948) Pastel on paper
23 ¼ x 19 ¾ inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Knoxville Museum of Art, purchase with funds provided by the KMA Collectors Circle with additional gifts from Barbara Apking, June and Rob Heller, Donna Kerr, Alexandra Rosen and Donald Cooney, Ted Smith and David Butler, Mimi and Milton Turner, John Cotham, Jan and Pete Crawford, Cathy and Mark Hill, Florence and Russell Johnston, John Z. C. Thomas, Donna and Terry Wertz, Jayne and Myron Ely, Sarah Stowers, Robin and Joe Ben Turner, and Jacqueline Wilson
G. R. N’Namdi Gallery
(1964) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1960) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1950) Oil on canvas
Image from Pomegranate Note Card
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
1969, Oil on canvas
65 x 54 cm; 25.6" x 21.2"
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Grievances from a Soul of Sorrow
It sold for $53,125.
(1962-1964) Gouache on paper
Signed and dated "Paris, 1964"
Inscribed: "for Amy(?) Erica + Tully, Paris August 20, 1962, with fond regards"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The date range for this work aroused my curiosity. Beauford showed ten abstract gouaches in a 1964 Copenhagen exhibition called 10 American Negro Artists, and I wondered if this may have been one of them.
Also, the online image of this work struck a chord in me.
I found it to be particularly vibrant, and I wanted to do something special when I posted about it here.
Enter Marteena Mendelssohn, a junior at the American University of Paris (AUP) who is serving as the autumn intern for the Wells International Foundation.
Marteena is a Creative Writing major and Film minor, and she has expressed interest in learning more about Beauford.
So, I invited her to have a look at some of the creative writing done by some of her intern predecessors (two of whom were also AUP students) and write some prose or poetry about this work on paper.
Find the resulting poem below.
Grievances from a Soul of Sorrow
by Marteena Mendelssohn
To move forward
so we dig and we build and we move
with dark
bodies and light voices that pave way into the black night blundering us into bits of bodies until our brown eyes turn into crimson blood on the backside of a painted canvas that’ll never see the day
break
Me
into the world of the unknown.
You or I refuse to see, it is our faith in the light that allows us to be
u
s
so.
Take our light take our truth
But don’t take us back to the starting line.
Beauford at Art Basel Miami 2022
Visitors to Art Basel Miami 2022 can revel in the splendor of Beauford's work!
The Schoelkopf Gallery is displaying one of my favorite works on paper, Untitled (Grape Motif). This piece is being shown alongside works by other artists who the gallery describes as having ... reinvented conventional genres such as landscape and still life through new lenses...
(1960) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
See these works HERE.
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery* is displaying thirteen of Beauford's paintings and works on paper. Created between 1952 and c. 1970, all but one of the works are from Beauford's Paris period.
Two are portraits of Beauford's mother, Delia, and his friend, Bernard Hassell,
(1964) Oil on canvas
Knoxville Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(c. 1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
and one is a figurative painting of an island.
The rest are of the works are abstracts.
See the entire selection HERE.
Today is the last day to visit Art Basel Miami.
You can find the Schoelkopf Gallery at Booth C2 and the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery at Booth G1.
Art Basel | Miami Beach
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Website: https://www.artbasel.com/miami-beach/at-the-show
*Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC is Special Advisor and Representative of the Estate of Beauford Delaney.
Beauford's Portrait of Mary Painter
Ever since I published the following 2012 articles about Beauford and his friendship with Mary Painter:
Beauford and Mary PainterBeauford's Paris: Rue des Carmes,
I've been searching for a portrait that Beauford did of Painter. Because of his proclivity for sketching and painting the people he loved, I felt strongly that he must have captured Painter's likeness on canvas.
Thanks to a recent introduction to Painter's niece, Carolyn Wells, my search may be over!
Mary Painter (?)
(1967-69) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right: Beauford Delaney 1969
Signed, dated and inscribed verso:
Beauford Delaney / 1967 / Paris / France
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Wells told me that the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (MRG)* might have a portrait of her aunt, so I inquired there. The gallery sent me the image shown above, accompanied by a document that provides the provenance and a painterly description of the work, as well as information about Painter.
MRG acquired the painting from the Beauford Delaney estate and conducted research to identify Painter as the subject. They spoke with Wells, who told me it seems very likely that the person in the painting is Painter.
They have a photo of Painter, contributed by Wells, that shows Painter's hair flowing over her shoulders similar to the way Beauford has depicted the woman in this painting. Wells confirms that her aunt had long red hair.
Photo reproduced with the permission of Carolyn Wells
The rear of the painting bears the following information on the stretcher:
Property of M et Mme Jim Legros / Chaville, France
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Jim and Bunny LeGros were dear friends of Beauford, and the Les Amis blog has featured them in multiple posts over the years. They lived in the Paris suburb of Vélizy, for which the nearest train station is Gare de Chaville-Vélizy.
Unfortunately, Beauford did not write Painter's name on this work.
*Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC is Special Advisor and Representative of the Estate of Beauford Delaney.
Istanbul Calling - A Recordbreaking Sale
On Octobr 14, 2022, Christie's London hosted a Post-War & Contemporary Art Day auction under the umbrella title "Istanbul Calling" to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and benefit the institution’s new Young Artists Fund.
As I reported on October 1, two Beauford Delaney portraits belonging to the estate of Turkish actress, theater director and owner, author, and television media personality Gülriz Sururi were put up for sale during this auction.
The estimated sale price of the Sururi portrait was 150,000-200,000 GBP.
Gülriz Sururi
(1966) oil on canvas
39 3/8 x 29 7/8in. (100 x 76cm.)
Signed and dated 'Beauford Delaney 1966' (lower left)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It sold for 189,000 GBP ($211,883), including Buyer's Premium.
The estimated sale price of the Baldwin portrait was 180,000-230,000 GBP.
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
It sold for 1,026,000 GBP ($1,150,114), including Buyer's Premium.
Christie's describes this as "the top price of the afternoon" for the auction. It names Beauford as one of three artists who "lead Christie’s 20th/21st Century Frieze Week season in London".
The auction house also declared the sale price of the Baldwin portrait "a record price for the artist." It identifies the hightest price that a Beauford Delaney fetched at auction prior to Istanbul Calling was the untitled 1948 painting, subtitled Village Street Scene, which sold for $557,000, including Buyer's Premium, at Swann Auction Galleries' African American Fine Art Sale in April 2018.Beauford Delaney News
Here are a few tidbits of news about Beauford's work, gathered from a Google search a few days ago.
New Orleans Auction Galleries Sale
On October 9, 2022, New Orleans Auction Galleries sold the untitled Beauford Delaney gouache on paper pictured below for $17,500.
(1969) Gouache on paper
Sheet 8-1/2" x 6-1/4", framed 14-1/4" x 11-3/4"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford at the Art Institute of Chicago
Beauford's iconic 1944 self-portrait and Norman Lewis' Multitudes are being juxtaposed with several closed-form sculptures by Toshiko Takaezu in Gallery 262 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
(1944) Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Find an image of the display here: https://www.artic.edu/highlights/49/a-aapi-artists
Watercolor Portrait of Beauford Delaney Being Sold for Charity
(2017) Watercolor on paper
Forsyth Harmon
You'll find this beautiful portrait of Beauford in a book called The Art of the Affair: An Illustrated History of Love, Sex, and Artistic Influence by Catherine Lacey.
Forsyth Harmon is selling the portrait for $150 and has pledged to donate all proceeds to the Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center, an organization that promotes literacy through teaching and learning about the African roots experience, including history and culture, through a dynamic exchange of information, ideas, and creativity.
Find information and purchase the work here: https://forsythharmon.com/Beauford-Delaney
Sold and To Be Sold 2
SOLD
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the impending auction of Beauford's Ciel (Sky) color screenprint no. 22/36 by Swann Auction Galleries.
(1960) Color screenprint
Signed, titled, dated, and numbered 22/36 in pencil, lower margin
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The sale took place on October 6, 2022, and the piece sold for $10,000, including Buyer's Premium.
TO BE SOLD
On October 9, 2022, New Orleans Auction Galleries will offer an untitled Beauford Delaney gouache on paper for sale during a two-day estates auction.
(1969) Gouache on paper
Sheet 8-1/2" x 6-1/4", framed 14-1/4" x 11-3/4"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
They describe the work (Lot 109) as follows:
"In this later abstract work by Delaney, the artist employs a limited yet sophisticated color palette of vivid hues to create an almost rhythmic exploration of the interplay of color and form."
This signed, framed work is estimated to sell for $15,000 to $25,000.
(1969) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
For information about this sale, click HERE.
Sale of Beauford Delaney Portraits to Support Charitable Causes
Over the years, I've published three articles about the time Beauford spent in Istanbul:
Beauford and Baldwin in Istanbul
Sedat Pakay's Tribute to Beauford
A few days ago, I learned that two works created by Beauford during this sojourn are being auctioned for charity.
Christie's London is hosting two auctions under the umbrella title "Istanbul Calling" to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and benefit the institution’s new Young Artists Fund. The sales catalog states that "Highlights include two enchanting portraits by Beauford Delaney painted in Turkey and held in the same private collection since 1966..."
That collection belongs to the estate of Gülriz Sururi (1929-2018), a Turkish actress, theater director and owner, author, and television media personality. She and her husband, actor Engin Cezzar (1935-2017), were dear friends of James Baldwin. Beauford met the couple during his 1966 visit to Istanbul.
The portraits portray James Baldwin (Lot 287) and Gülriz Sururi (Lot 288).
Find vibrant images of these portraits and read the lot essays about them on Christie's Website at the links below:
The Baldwin portrait is one of two that Beauford created while in Istanbul. It is one of the "softest" I've seen in terms of the palette Beauford chose to use in portraying his friend. The estimated sale price of this work is $210,000-$290,000.
The Sururi portrait is another example of Beauford's passion for portraying his subjects in luminous yellow. The estimated sale price of this work is $180,000-$230,000.
Both portraits will be sold during the Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale on Friday 14 October 2022. The Sururi Estate plans to donate 80% of their net proceeds of sale to Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği (Association for the Support of Contemporary Living), a non-profit NGO in Turkey, and the remaining 20% of their net proceeds of sale to İKSV. The Association for the Support of Contemporary Living helps girls across Turkey to obtain an education.
For more information about the sale, click HERE.