Art and Desire
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: Part Four
EL Kornegay Jr., Ph.D.
In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney
, David Leeming opens the unusual door to what might be considered the sexual life of Beauford Delaney. According to
James Baldwin, this lyric about the “unusual door” comes from a song “Beauford
would often sing.”[1]
This unusual door signals at least two aspects of who Beauford Delaney is: a
“…living exemplar of a black man as functioning, self-supporting artist” and according
to Leeming, a homosexual. Beauford was a Negro artist and a homosexual.[2] Yet,
both are constrained by the former, with Beauford’s art having limitations in
the world of whiteness and his sexuality having limitations in the world of
blackness.
Both comprise a double-edged sword of desire with the sharp blade of race and sexuality cutting both ways. The issue of race is a traceable event; sexuality is a bit more elusive, for the latter requires the willingness of lovers to speak and encounters to be exposed. Race plays itself out in the open; sex, most often behind closed doors. How can we account for these acts, which most often remain sealed behind a wall of silence? How do we add the dimension of physical intimacy to our beloved Beauford in ways that celebrate his manhood and his desire to love and be loved?
Leeming asks if Beauford’s paintings say anything about his racial or sexual history. I say his painting say something about both. This is a co-constituted viewpoint, one in which race and sexuality are combined in a colorful commentary of blended pastels, vividly textured swirls, and dimensioned landscapes where images of desire have been captured.
The joy and pain of a double-edged life that has been raced and sexed is wrapped up in a climatic crescendo of brushstrokes distilled on canvas where truth lies somewhere between the painted images we see and the reasons for their being that we cannot. It is in this space where the answer to the question concerning Beauford’s sexual selfhood might be found.
Leeming writes that some friends of Beauford’s claim that he “did not concern himself with racial or sexual issues” and “that his whole life was his painting.” Yet we find hints of a sexual pulse in Dark Rapture (1941); hidden desire roams under the moonlit streets and city lights of Greenwich Village (1945), in the interplay of couples in the light of day in Washington Square (1952), and in the brightly colored celebration of the erect phallus set between testicular orbs in Sun and Moon (1970). Beauford subtlety expresses his racial and sexual self in certain of his paintings; he reveals what he wants us to see privately, not publicly.
Dark Rapture
(1941) Oil on canvas
Private collection
Private collection
Leeming mentions that Delaney was a very private man and was careful never to blur the lines between eroticism and friendship, between race and sex. However, Beauford does integrate these themes into his work and is quite flamboyant in his celebration of human eroticism in both his love for the blues and its reflection in his art. There is a voyeuristic quality to his paintings; many of his subjects seem not to see him and therefore do not necessarily see his desire for them. He seems to be an unknown admirer framing the silhouette of someone he finds beautiful up close (in Jean Genet [1972], Genet seems to emerge from a thicket after a private encounter) or admires from afar (in Rosa Parks [1970], the specter of a perpendicular bulge adorns a random dark figure in the background of the painting). The angles in his works belie coyness, a shyness only revealed when you catch the glance of an admirer in the corner of your eye.
Jean Genet
(1972) Oil on canvas
Private collection
I appreciate Leeming’s response to the questions surrounding Delaney’s racial and sexual identity. Along with black religion, they are important aspects shaping Beauford’s life and work. However, I find that Beauford’s desire – to resist racial and sexual limitations – is directly tied to and bound up in his art. There is no need to speculate about either: we only have to look at what he painted and left behind to get a glimpse of who, what, and how he loved. It is an unusual door to open, but once you have entered, the understanding of the many dimensions of Beauford’s desire begins to emerge.
[1] I have not been able to trace the anecdotal reference by Baldwin of this lyric often
sung by Beauford. However, I do understand this is possibly an example of a
folk “spiritual” indicative of the black church tradition both men shared and
one which Baldwin very often references. James Baldwin, “The Price of the
Ticket”, ed. Toni Morrison. Collected
Essays.(New York: Library of America, 1998), 830.
Beauford in Blue: Story of a Portrait
Shawn Olszewski is a self-taught artist who has painted professionally for the past ten years. He created this beautiful portrait of Beauford:
I contacted him to ask him why. He granted me this interview.
Les Amis: How did you come to learn about Beauford Delaney?
S.O.: I came to expressionism on my own but when I started getting noticed I started researching
other expressionists more. When I first saw Delaney's portrait of James Baldwin I was hooked.
Les Amis: Which portrait of Baldwin did you first see:
S.O.: The one that Delaney painted in 1945*.
Les Amis: How familiar are you with Beauford's work?
S.O.: I've never had the opportunity to see a work in person, I'm not quite sure how I will handle it
when I do. So all of my exposure to him has been through books and the Internet.
Les Amis: What do you like about it?
S.O.: I'm most intrigued by push/pull of the browns and ochers with the vividly intense colors. I appreciate
that they switch roles from one painting to the next. The portraiture is just stunning.
Les Amis: What inspired you to paint Beauford's portrait?
S.O.: I realized that I had been evangelizing Beauford for years to anyone that would listen but that I'd
never attempted to paint him. I felt I was doing myself a disservice by not attempting it.
Les Amis: Tell us more about "evangelizing Beauford."
S.O.: I definitely talk about Beauford to other artists. As you know, his story is one about race, mental health, and sexuality also. So in our ongoing fight for equality in the U.S., I have many opportunities to talk with people of all disciplines about Mr. Delaney, whom I believe to be very much underrated due to these "isms" and stigmas.
Les Amis: Were you inspired by Beauford's painting style when you did his portrait?
S.O.: I've been inspired by his style from first seeing his work. I try not to step on his style but
I think a little bit of him should be obvious in all my portraiture.
Les Amis: Why did you select the colors that you used for the painting?
S.O.: I felt they are the colors that we have in common. Yellow ocher especially is very important in my portraits. The blue is more hopeful. We've both had very turbulent lives; the blue is choosing to ignore some of that.
To view Olszewski's art, visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/OlszewskiArt.
* Beauford's 1945 portrait of James Baldwin is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Beauford Delaney
(2010) Oil bar and oil pastel on canvas
Shawn Olszewski
I contacted him to ask him why. He granted me this interview.
Les Amis: How did you come to learn about Beauford Delaney?
S.O.: I came to expressionism on my own but when I started getting noticed I started researching
other expressionists more. When I first saw Delaney's portrait of James Baldwin I was hooked.
Les Amis: Which portrait of Baldwin did you first see:
S.O.: The one that Delaney painted in 1945*.
Les Amis: How familiar are you with Beauford's work?
S.O.: I've never had the opportunity to see a work in person, I'm not quite sure how I will handle it
when I do. So all of my exposure to him has been through books and the Internet.
Les Amis: What do you like about it?
S.O.: I'm most intrigued by push/pull of the browns and ochers with the vividly intense colors. I appreciate
that they switch roles from one painting to the next. The portraiture is just stunning.
Les Amis: What inspired you to paint Beauford's portrait?
S.O.: I realized that I had been evangelizing Beauford for years to anyone that would listen but that I'd
never attempted to paint him. I felt I was doing myself a disservice by not attempting it.
Les Amis: Tell us more about "evangelizing Beauford."
S.O.: I definitely talk about Beauford to other artists. As you know, his story is one about race, mental health, and sexuality also. So in our ongoing fight for equality in the U.S., I have many opportunities to talk with people of all disciplines about Mr. Delaney, whom I believe to be very much underrated due to these "isms" and stigmas.
Les Amis: Were you inspired by Beauford's painting style when you did his portrait?
S.O.: I've been inspired by his style from first seeing his work. I try not to step on his style but
I think a little bit of him should be obvious in all my portraiture.
Les Amis: Why did you select the colors that you used for the painting?
S.O.: I felt they are the colors that we have in common. Yellow ocher especially is very important in my portraits. The blue is more hopeful. We've both had very turbulent lives; the blue is choosing to ignore some of that.
To view Olszewski's art, visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/OlszewskiArt.
* Beauford's 1945 portrait of James Baldwin is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Errol Sawyer’s Photographic Portrait of Beauford
“Quantum.” This is one of the words that photographer Errol Sawyer used to describe Beauford during our recent interview.
Errol Sawyer (http://www.errolsawyer.com) is a documentary and fine arts photographer who currently lives in Amsterdam. His photographic portrait of Beauford is the most compelling one that I have ever seen.
Beauford Delaney
Rue Guilleminot
France 1973
© Errol Sawyer
Sawyer and Beauford were introduced in 1973 by a Danish woman who lived in the 14th arrondissement. Sawyer believes she may have been Beauford’s neighbor. She was very excited about making the introduction and hoped that the two men would build a relationship, perhaps because they were both African-American and both artists. Sawyer regrets that this did not happen – he says that he was 29 years old at the time and “didn’t know anything.” At that time he did not realize the value of maintaining contact with Beauford.
Sawyer only met Beauford twice, yet he was inspired to photograph him. He describes Beauford as being “like a boy – youthful, exuberant…” He never saw Beauford in a state of incoherence and said that Beauford was able to articulate his thoughts clearly whenever they spoke. But he also said that he thought Beauford operated on another plane of existence; that he was “in another zone.” He felt that Beauford was a “beautiful” human being.
The photo shoot took place in front of Sawyer’s atelier on rue Guilleminot in the 14th arrondissement, just one street away from Beauford’s studio on rue Vercingétorix. But he never visited Beauford’s studio and did not know Beauford’s work at the time he took the photo. He said that he wanted to photograph Beauford because he looked interesting and was very comfortable in his skin:
Sawyer traveled to Paris with his son Victor a few weeks ago and we returned to rue Guilleminot. The entire neighborhood was being razed and rebuilt at around the time that Beauford was committed to Sainte-Anne’s in the late 70s, and Sawyer recognized almost nothing from the time that he lived in the neighborhood. Though the building where his studio was located no longer exists, he showed me approximately where he took the photograph of Beauford. I photographed him and Victor at that spot.
Victor and Errol Sawyer on rue Guilleminot
© Discover Paris!
We then walked over to the place where Beauford’s building once stood. Sawyer recognized the church Notre Dame du Travail but said that everything else had changed from the time that he lived in Paris (1971-78). He again lamented that he had no idea he and Beauford were living so close together and that he did not get to know Beauford during those years.
I asked Sawyer what effect Beauford has had on his life. He responded:
Those in Paris can view three of Sawyer’s works, including his portrait of Beauford, from his book entitled City Mosaic (2010) at the Obama’s America exposition at Dorothy’s Gallery:
Dorothy’s Gallery – American Center for the Arts
27, rue Keller
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01 43 57 08 51
Internet: http://dorothysgallery.com/art/
Metro: Bastille (Lines 1, 5, and 8), Voltaire (Line 9)
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 1 PM to 7 PM, Tuesday and Sunday from 4 PM to 7 PM
A limited number of copies of City Mosaic are available for purchase at the gallery as well.
The exposition runs from September 14 through November 10, 2012.
Errol Sawyer (http://www.errolsawyer.com) is a documentary and fine arts photographer who currently lives in Amsterdam. His photographic portrait of Beauford is the most compelling one that I have ever seen.
Rue Guilleminot
France 1973
© Errol Sawyer
Sawyer and Beauford were introduced in 1973 by a Danish woman who lived in the 14th arrondissement. Sawyer believes she may have been Beauford’s neighbor. She was very excited about making the introduction and hoped that the two men would build a relationship, perhaps because they were both African-American and both artists. Sawyer regrets that this did not happen – he says that he was 29 years old at the time and “didn’t know anything.” At that time he did not realize the value of maintaining contact with Beauford.
Sawyer only met Beauford twice, yet he was inspired to photograph him. He describes Beauford as being “like a boy – youthful, exuberant…” He never saw Beauford in a state of incoherence and said that Beauford was able to articulate his thoughts clearly whenever they spoke. But he also said that he thought Beauford operated on another plane of existence; that he was “in another zone.” He felt that Beauford was a “beautiful” human being.
The photo shoot took place in front of Sawyer’s atelier on rue Guilleminot in the 14th arrondissement, just one street away from Beauford’s studio on rue Vercingétorix. But he never visited Beauford’s studio and did not know Beauford’s work at the time he took the photo. He said that he wanted to photograph Beauford because he looked interesting and was very comfortable in his skin:
I was drawn to him. I used a 50 mm lens camera to take the portrait. He was not bothered by the camera, not put off by it, not intimidated by it.
Sawyer traveled to Paris with his son Victor a few weeks ago and we returned to rue Guilleminot. The entire neighborhood was being razed and rebuilt at around the time that Beauford was committed to Sainte-Anne’s in the late 70s, and Sawyer recognized almost nothing from the time that he lived in the neighborhood. Though the building where his studio was located no longer exists, he showed me approximately where he took the photograph of Beauford. I photographed him and Victor at that spot.
© Discover Paris!
We then walked over to the place where Beauford’s building once stood. Sawyer recognized the church Notre Dame du Travail but said that everything else had changed from the time that he lived in Paris (1971-78). He again lamented that he had no idea he and Beauford were living so close together and that he did not get to know Beauford during those years.
I asked Sawyer what effect Beauford has had on his life. He responded:
He is speaking to me as I look at his portrait. He’s saying to me “Keep the faith.” He was a romantic and an idealist. Some of the things that he had to live through drove him mad. The same happened to van Gogh. Beauford is as present now as he was then. He’s not dead.
Those in Paris can view three of Sawyer’s works, including his portrait of Beauford, from his book entitled City Mosaic (2010) at the Obama’s America exposition at Dorothy’s Gallery:
Dorothy’s Gallery – American Center for the Arts
27, rue Keller
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01 43 57 08 51
Internet: http://dorothysgallery.com/art/
Metro: Bastille (Lines 1, 5, and 8), Voltaire (Line 9)
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 1 PM to 7 PM, Tuesday and Sunday from 4 PM to 7 PM
A limited number of copies of City Mosaic are available for purchase at the gallery as well.
The exposition runs from September 14 through November 10, 2012.
I Saw Beauford Delaney Today - Part 2
Last week, I brought you Part 1 of an article about artist Maureen Kelleher and her passion for James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney. Part 2 is below.
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Kelleher admits that she knows little about Beauford other than his relationship with Baldwin. She knows very little about the extent of his oeuvre, but she likes the boldness, colors, and big strokes that Beauford was so fond of using. She is familiar with only one of the portraits that Beauford painted of Baldwin – the one that is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
Portrait of James Baldwin
(1945) Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Kelleher used this painting as the inspiration for Note Board, the companion piece for I Saw Beauford Delaney Today.
Artist’s note board for: I Saw Beauford Delaney Today
Maureen Kelleher
(2008) Mixed Media
Photo courtesy of Maureen Kelleher
Maureen relates the story of the creation of Note Board as follows:
To view Maureen Kelleher’s works, visit her Web sites at
www.mkelleherart(dot)com and www.beanartbean(dot)com. To watch her video, click here: Maureen Kelleher Studio Visit.
Kelleher admits that she knows little about Beauford other than his relationship with Baldwin. She knows very little about the extent of his oeuvre, but she likes the boldness, colors, and big strokes that Beauford was so fond of using. She is familiar with only one of the portraits that Beauford painted of Baldwin – the one that is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
It’s the only one I know about, and I love it. It is beautiful. Delaney captured Baldwin’s grace and vulnerability. And beautiful colors, style. I feel/see strength in Delaney’s technique.
(1945) Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Kelleher used this painting as the inspiration for Note Board, the companion piece for I Saw Beauford Delaney Today.
Maureen Kelleher
(2008) Mixed Media
Photo courtesy of Maureen Kelleher
Maureen relates the story of the creation of Note Board as follows:
A woman I met on the train, [we had time to talk; the train died on the tracks, and we were stuck outside The Bronx for a couple hours, then we had to get on another train they sent to ‘rescue us”] -- unexpectedly sent me a large poster. The poster advertised a show of Beauford’s work at a museum in Philadelphia, (I think).
She remembered our talking about Baldwin, so (how wonderful for me!) she sent me the poster. When I saw the poster, and, of course, Delaney’s painting of Baldwin, I thought of using the painting for something in my work. I think I had the piece about Delaney and Baldwin done when I received the poster. Then I decided to make the accompanying note board. I knew I wanted to include Delaney’s painting of Baldwin, somehow, in my work on Baldwin. It makes total sense (to me!) that the piece, Delaney’s painting, would be included in my piece about Baldwin & Delaney’s friendship. Delaney’s painting of Baldwin is the most perfect representation of their friendship and friendship is the theme of my piece, I SAW BEAUFORD DELANEY TODAY.
Of course, Baldwin probably wrote about Delaney, but I’ve yet to get to that project and research that (so much to do! so little time!).
Clearly, each artist memorialized the friendship in his own medium. Wonderful.
To view Maureen Kelleher’s works, visit her Web sites at
www.mkelleherart(dot)com and www.beanartbean(dot)com. To watch her video, click here: Maureen Kelleher Studio Visit.
I Saw Beauford Delaney Today - Part 1
In a recent Google search on Beauford, I came across a video that features the work of an artist named Maureen Kelleher. Driven by her passion for James Baldwin, she created two works that illustrate the special relationship that Baldwin and Beauford had. I bring you these works and the story behind them in a two-part article. Part 1 is below.
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Maureen Kelleher discovered James Baldwin while riding out a hurricane in New Orleans in 2000 (she thinks the hurricane was named “Georges.”) She passed the time waiting for the storm by reading David Leeming’s James Baldwin, A Biography, which represented her first exposure to Baldwin. Upon reading the passage about Baldwin advising his brother “Lover” on how to handle a racist, white, superior officer in the army, she remembered an event from her adolescence that made her realize that her father was the “exact description of the racist described in the Baldwin brothers’ exchange.” At that moment, she knew that Baldwin’s advice to “Lover” was “right on the money, honest, and accurate.” She also knew that she needed to resolve the juxtaposition of the two positions – that of Baldwin and that of her father – in her mind.
When the threat of the storm passed, she turned to art as a means of working out this conflict. She created her first works from wood and paint, and used words as a core part of the pieces that released the “creativity floodgate” within her that makes her the artist she is today. From a person who hated art and avoided it with a passion, she turned into a person whose life revolves around art.
I Saw Beauford Delaney Today
Maureen Kelleher
(2008) Mixed Media
Photo courtesy of Maureen Kelleher
Kelleher's work entitled I Saw Beauford Delaney Today is composed of mixed media: wood, painting, engraving, images, and wire on wood. Two photographs in the Leeming biography of Baldwin inspired her to create it – one of Baldwin, Beauford, and Lucien Happersberger walking down the street in Paris, and the other of Baldwin and Beauford at Sainte-Anne’s Hospital. In the first photo, all three subjects are nattily dressed and looking happy. In the second, Beauford is a patient at Sainte-Anne’s and is dressed in a bathrobe. Baldwin is dressed in street clothes and is visiting Beauford.
Kelleher says that the second photo was the true inspiration for her work:
A trip to The Village (Greenwich Village) was the inspiration for the name of the piece. Kelleher was excited to move to the NYC area in 2005 when she evacuated New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. She was thrilled that she could finally go to the places that Baldwin and Beauford frequented and wanted to find where Beauford lived in the Village because she wanted to see where Baldwin first met his dear friend and mentor. She went to 181 Greene Street (the address she had found in Leeming’s biography of Baldwin) and was disappointed to find NYU dormitories at the site.
During that trek, she saw a middle-aged African-American man on the street and said to herself “That could be Beauford Delaney, if this were 1936.” She said that the phrase “I just saw Beauford Delaney” went through her head. She felt that she was “in history’s footsteps” and that she “[just] saw Beauford Delaney” on the street corner in New York City. That’s how she got the title for her piece.
To view Maureen Kelleher’s works, visit her Web sites at
www.mkelleherart(dot)com and www.beanartbean(dot)com. To watch her video, click here: Maureen Kelleher Studio Visit.
Maureen Kelleher discovered James Baldwin while riding out a hurricane in New Orleans in 2000 (she thinks the hurricane was named “Georges.”) She passed the time waiting for the storm by reading David Leeming’s James Baldwin, A Biography, which represented her first exposure to Baldwin. Upon reading the passage about Baldwin advising his brother “Lover” on how to handle a racist, white, superior officer in the army, she remembered an event from her adolescence that made her realize that her father was the “exact description of the racist described in the Baldwin brothers’ exchange.” At that moment, she knew that Baldwin’s advice to “Lover” was “right on the money, honest, and accurate.” She also knew that she needed to resolve the juxtaposition of the two positions – that of Baldwin and that of her father – in her mind.
When the threat of the storm passed, she turned to art as a means of working out this conflict. She created her first works from wood and paint, and used words as a core part of the pieces that released the “creativity floodgate” within her that makes her the artist she is today. From a person who hated art and avoided it with a passion, she turned into a person whose life revolves around art.
Maureen Kelleher
(2008) Mixed Media
Photo courtesy of Maureen Kelleher
Kelleher's work entitled I Saw Beauford Delaney Today is composed of mixed media: wood, painting, engraving, images, and wire on wood. Two photographs in the Leeming biography of Baldwin inspired her to create it – one of Baldwin, Beauford, and Lucien Happersberger walking down the street in Paris, and the other of Baldwin and Beauford at Sainte-Anne’s Hospital. In the first photo, all three subjects are nattily dressed and looking happy. In the second, Beauford is a patient at Sainte-Anne’s and is dressed in a bathrobe. Baldwin is dressed in street clothes and is visiting Beauford.
Kelleher says that the second photo was the true inspiration for her work:
My mother was extremely mentally ill; she had a nervous breakdown, every year of my life, until the time of her death in 1994, so I’ve been in many state hospitals, locked wards, and lots of time spent there, visiting with my mom, meetings lots and lots of doctors and nurses, and all the other patients in the day room, endless smoking, visiting, playing cards, for my entire life. So I really, really “connect” with this photo of Baldwin “coming to the aid” of his mentally ill friend, in the hospital…So sweet and so personal. The big famous American writer, and he’s taking the time to help his dear friend in need, another artist, the American painter, Beauford Delaney.
A trip to The Village (Greenwich Village) was the inspiration for the name of the piece. Kelleher was excited to move to the NYC area in 2005 when she evacuated New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. She was thrilled that she could finally go to the places that Baldwin and Beauford frequented and wanted to find where Beauford lived in the Village because she wanted to see where Baldwin first met his dear friend and mentor. She went to 181 Greene Street (the address she had found in Leeming’s biography of Baldwin) and was disappointed to find NYU dormitories at the site.
During that trek, she saw a middle-aged African-American man on the street and said to herself “That could be Beauford Delaney, if this were 1936.” She said that the phrase “I just saw Beauford Delaney” went through her head. She felt that she was “in history’s footsteps” and that she “[just] saw Beauford Delaney” on the street corner in New York City. That’s how she got the title for her piece.
To view Maureen Kelleher’s works, visit her Web sites at
www.mkelleherart(dot)com and www.beanartbean(dot)com. To watch her video, click here: Maureen Kelleher Studio Visit.
Race, Society, and Canvas: The Amazing Grace of Beauford Delaney
By now, E.L. Kornegay, Jr. needs no introduction to regular readers of this blog. His articles provide us with fresh insight into Beauford's life and art. Today he brings us Part Three of "re-Searching Beauford Delaney."
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Race, Society, and Canvas: The Amazing Grace of Beauford Delaney
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: part three
E. L. Kornegay Jr., Ph.D.
One of the things most underappreciated about the artistry of Beauford Delaney is the effort expended by Beauford and the cost exacted from him to beat back the social dross of a society bent and broken apart by racism. Beauford did not necessarily paint what he lived – he painted his resistant hope for a world that was yet to exist. Whether he ever realized that it was moving in the direction of his paintings is somewhat of a mystery. One thing that I do know is that living in the tension of racism and a society that failed to embrace his blackness, his masculinity, thwarted his ability to love openly and challenged the hope of his soul. This drove him out of America and, dare I say, out of his mind.
What Beauford left behind for us is amazing. In spite of depression and oppression he was able to leave a message on canvas of a world above the one in which he existed. It is by grace that he shaped a way for the images of a world envisioned in his mind to find their way onto the serene landscape of his canvas.
Race and racism have broken many people and communities of color. This was Beauford’s experience. The benevolence shown by white sponsors and A-list associations with entertainers and artists afforded him little relief from the racist conundrum faced by the exceptional Negro. Beauford was exceptional, but still Negro.
Against this backdrop, biographer David Leeming draws us a picture of the life and work of Beauford Delaney. To Leeming’s credit, Amazing Grace is a rich accounting of a black artist striving to live in the spirit of his gift in a world that sought to diminish his worth. The text is as much a chronicle of the growing pains of a nation and humanity as it is a singular tale of Beauford’s dogged determination to be an artist. This is what made Beauford the human being that he was – he was graced with the power to capture not what he saw with his natural eye, but what he saw with his spirit. However, Amazing Grace is limited by the disconnection between its author and a social context that was viewed, but not necessarily lived.
Those of us who have experienced the racism and bigotry of American society firsthand share in the knowledge of how it divides the mind and seeks separation of body and soul, leaving the latter to fend for itself. Living is a battle on multiple fronts, with the lack of relief or safety often ending in wonderful gifts and unrivaled beauty being lost in various forms of addiction – or, in the case of Beauford, a formal withdrawal from deliberating the troubles of this world.
The toil, the never ending of toil of life, can cause the best of us to lose balance. Beauford slipped in and out this world and sanity as he toiled. Eventually he became too tired to fight, finally giving in, but not before leaving his gift intact on canvas.
Leeming reminds his readers over and over again of the power of Beauford’s spirit and the sacredness of his gift. The creation of art was Beauford’s passion: it was a full cup and a heavy, yet wondrous cross he bore at all costs. He fulfilled his purpose. His spirit did not return vanquished to the eternal – it accomplished what it was sent here to do.
Beauford left it to the world to ponder the “what if” of his mental state. The world was not meant to be this hard – he knew it even if those around him failed to recognize that fact. In a chilling way, it seems that he left long before his physical body breathed its last breath. What remained, still physically warm but drained of spiritual vitality, reminds us of how strong the will of a body remains long after the fight has ended.
When I read about Beauford, I am reminded of the lives of the multitude of persons who have passed into history without a whisper. Anytime I look on the dark face of a man or woman, hardened and scarred by the raging world around them, left mumbling, begging with their backs against a dirty wall sitting on a bustling, uncaring city sidewalk, I see Beauford. It was from a similar position that he painted the wonderful works we now laud. Who he was and what he saw are one and the same – they create a complete picture. It is amazing that he graced us with the world we hope for on canvas and in doing so created a way to escape, however momentarily, the madness knocking at our door.
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: part three
E. L. Kornegay Jr., Ph.D.
One of the things most underappreciated about the artistry of Beauford Delaney is the effort expended by Beauford and the cost exacted from him to beat back the social dross of a society bent and broken apart by racism. Beauford did not necessarily paint what he lived – he painted his resistant hope for a world that was yet to exist. Whether he ever realized that it was moving in the direction of his paintings is somewhat of a mystery. One thing that I do know is that living in the tension of racism and a society that failed to embrace his blackness, his masculinity, thwarted his ability to love openly and challenged the hope of his soul. This drove him out of America and, dare I say, out of his mind.
What Beauford left behind for us is amazing. In spite of depression and oppression he was able to leave a message on canvas of a world above the one in which he existed. It is by grace that he shaped a way for the images of a world envisioned in his mind to find their way onto the serene landscape of his canvas.
Race and racism have broken many people and communities of color. This was Beauford’s experience. The benevolence shown by white sponsors and A-list associations with entertainers and artists afforded him little relief from the racist conundrum faced by the exceptional Negro. Beauford was exceptional, but still Negro.
Against this backdrop, biographer David Leeming draws us a picture of the life and work of Beauford Delaney. To Leeming’s credit, Amazing Grace
is a rich accounting of a black artist striving to live in the spirit of his gift in a world that sought to diminish his worth. The text is as much a chronicle of the growing pains of a nation and humanity as it is a singular tale of Beauford’s dogged determination to be an artist. This is what made Beauford the human being that he was – he was graced with the power to capture not what he saw with his natural eye, but what he saw with his spirit. However, Amazing Grace is limited by the disconnection between its author and a social context that was viewed, but not necessarily lived.Those of us who have experienced the racism and bigotry of American society firsthand share in the knowledge of how it divides the mind and seeks separation of body and soul, leaving the latter to fend for itself. Living is a battle on multiple fronts, with the lack of relief or safety often ending in wonderful gifts and unrivaled beauty being lost in various forms of addiction – or, in the case of Beauford, a formal withdrawal from deliberating the troubles of this world.
The toil, the never ending of toil of life, can cause the best of us to lose balance. Beauford slipped in and out this world and sanity as he toiled. Eventually he became too tired to fight, finally giving in, but not before leaving his gift intact on canvas.
Leeming reminds his readers over and over again of the power of Beauford’s spirit and the sacredness of his gift. The creation of art was Beauford’s passion: it was a full cup and a heavy, yet wondrous cross he bore at all costs. He fulfilled his purpose. His spirit did not return vanquished to the eternal – it accomplished what it was sent here to do.
Beauford left it to the world to ponder the “what if” of his mental state. The world was not meant to be this hard – he knew it even if those around him failed to recognize that fact. In a chilling way, it seems that he left long before his physical body breathed its last breath. What remained, still physically warm but drained of spiritual vitality, reminds us of how strong the will of a body remains long after the fight has ended.
When I read about Beauford, I am reminded of the lives of the multitude of persons who have passed into history without a whisper. Anytime I look on the dark face of a man or woman, hardened and scarred by the raging world around them, left mumbling, begging with their backs against a dirty wall sitting on a bustling, uncaring city sidewalk, I see Beauford. It was from a similar position that he painted the wonderful works we now laud. Who he was and what he saw are one and the same – they create a complete picture. It is amazing that he graced us with the world we hope for on canvas and in doing so created a way to escape, however momentarily, the madness knocking at our door.
Invitation to a Gathering of Souls
Last month, E.L. Kornegay, Jr. contributed the first of a series of articles that explore his experiences and reflections in the scholarly pursuit of Beauford's life and art. Today he brings us Part Two of "re-Searching Beauford Delaney."
************
“Invitation to a Gathering of Souls”
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: Part Two
by E. L. Kornegay, Jr., Ph. D.
I cannot say, with all honesty, that I ever imagined I would get this close to Beauford Delaney. Yet, here I am feeling in some way that it was intended for me to be standing in the midst of his memory and his artistic legacy.
There are many who both love and appreciate Beauford Delaney. In fact my formal introduction into his world came by way of a chance third party connection to Monique Wells. She was in Chicago to do a presentation on Beauford Delaney and the efforts of Les Amis. While we were unfortunately unable to meet face-to-face, Monique graciously chatted with me over the phone. She is the first soul I would encounter gathered around Beauford. This leads me to say while I first heard of Beauford through my research on James Baldwin, I feel that I was formally introduced to Beauford through Monique.
This is at the heart of what I feel is so much of who Beauford Delaney was in life and what keeps him alive in the hearts and minds of many. Beauford’s art gives his soul tangibility. His art is a tangible expression of his soul and an invitation to be in his company.
Beauford among his paintings
Photo from Darthea Speyer Gallery Invitation to
1973 Beauford Delaney Solo Exposition
I am beginning to see Beauford’s art as a collection of invitations: a history of the souls he encountered. Seeing him standing amongst his paintings, whether it is the work of his early period, first in Boston and then New York or the latter period in Europe, a sense of community emerges. These images are not a collection of paintings: each is a uniquely crafted expression of a soul he met or souls he felt and could only gauge abstractly. I can only imagine the beauty behind the madness of feeling but not knowing, and the power it took to capture it on canvas. As such, it seems to me that Beauford would think it strange to see him apart from his art – to be located alongside its beauty yet somehow separated from the madness. Beauford moves amongst his art, a gleeful host cherishing the wild and peaceful presence of colorful souls in his space. Beauford did not create a collection of art: Beauford Delaney proffered a gathering of souls.
As I encounter, one by one, the paintings of Beauford, I sense that each piece is insistent. Each work invites you not merely to view it, but to encounter its presence and to feel what you see inside of its colors, shapes, and textures. This goes on from one painting to another in the way a conversation amongst friends flows naturally when gathered together. The gift of seeing his paintings as a whole is to be invited into a cloud of witnesses. You cannot know one: you must know them all.
I am grateful for the invitation and awestruck by the gathering of souls around Beauford Delaney. Henry Miller writes “Beauford was an artist before birth; he was an artist in the womb…”1 In other words Beauford painted from his soul: even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. So Beauford paints to gather us together and invites us to remember those things before we were formed, where beauty is pure and madness is a mirage.
1Henry Miller, The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney. (New York: New Directions), 1941.
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: Part Two
by E. L. Kornegay, Jr., Ph. D.
I cannot say, with all honesty, that I ever imagined I would get this close to Beauford Delaney. Yet, here I am feeling in some way that it was intended for me to be standing in the midst of his memory and his artistic legacy.
There are many who both love and appreciate Beauford Delaney. In fact my formal introduction into his world came by way of a chance third party connection to Monique Wells. She was in Chicago to do a presentation on Beauford Delaney and the efforts of Les Amis. While we were unfortunately unable to meet face-to-face, Monique graciously chatted with me over the phone. She is the first soul I would encounter gathered around Beauford. This leads me to say while I first heard of Beauford through my research on James Baldwin, I feel that I was formally introduced to Beauford through Monique.
This is at the heart of what I feel is so much of who Beauford Delaney was in life and what keeps him alive in the hearts and minds of many. Beauford’s art gives his soul tangibility. His art is a tangible expression of his soul and an invitation to be in his company.
Photo from Darthea Speyer Gallery Invitation to
1973 Beauford Delaney Solo Exposition
I am beginning to see Beauford’s art as a collection of invitations: a history of the souls he encountered. Seeing him standing amongst his paintings, whether it is the work of his early period, first in Boston and then New York or the latter period in Europe, a sense of community emerges. These images are not a collection of paintings: each is a uniquely crafted expression of a soul he met or souls he felt and could only gauge abstractly. I can only imagine the beauty behind the madness of feeling but not knowing, and the power it took to capture it on canvas. As such, it seems to me that Beauford would think it strange to see him apart from his art – to be located alongside its beauty yet somehow separated from the madness. Beauford moves amongst his art, a gleeful host cherishing the wild and peaceful presence of colorful souls in his space. Beauford did not create a collection of art: Beauford Delaney proffered a gathering of souls.
As I encounter, one by one, the paintings of Beauford, I sense that each piece is insistent. Each work invites you not merely to view it, but to encounter its presence and to feel what you see inside of its colors, shapes, and textures. This goes on from one painting to another in the way a conversation amongst friends flows naturally when gathered together. The gift of seeing his paintings as a whole is to be invited into a cloud of witnesses. You cannot know one: you must know them all.
I am grateful for the invitation and awestruck by the gathering of souls around Beauford Delaney. Henry Miller writes “Beauford was an artist before birth; he was an artist in the womb…”1 In other words Beauford painted from his soul: even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. So Beauford paints to gather us together and invites us to remember those things before we were formed, where beauty is pure and madness is a mirage.
1Henry Miller, The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney. (New York: New Directions), 1941.
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: An Uneven Introduction
E.L. Kornegay, Jr. contributed two postings to the Les Amis blog in 2011: Beauford Delaney: The Artisan as Witness and Why Artisan? Thinking about Beauford. He has completed his doctoral research on James Baldwin, including Beauford’s influence on Baldwin, and is now turning his attention to a full-fledged scholarly investigation of Beauford’s life and work. I am thrilled to present his latest contribution to the blog, which recounts the first steps on his journey to re-Search Beauford!
************
The “Lovely Fortress”
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: An Uneven Introduction
by E. L. Kornegay, Jr., Ph. D.
This is the first reflection in a series that chronicles my research on Beauford Delaney. It is through collaborating with Monique Wells that I am guided into the work, life, and spirit of the Lovely Fortress: Beauford Delaney.
I recently visited the Art Institute of Chicago with a singular purpose in mind: to view the work of Beauford Delaney. I had secured an opportunity that gave me access to his works held in storage and the chance to thumb through some of the research associated with the man and his art.
I was told to go to a back entrance, next to the loading dock, where I would be given a visitor’s pass and made to wait for my contact. There on the side of the building, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the unceremonious off-loading of items heading into the guts of the building, security personnel methodically earning their hourly wage, and a handful of men hanging a poster on a wall next to me, I waited to begin my search for Beauford.
On the surface this description might seem superfluous, an unrelated and unworthy accoutrement to this research project and process. However, I think it conveys a perspective: one that is reflective of how to approach Beauford in order to properly research his work, his life, and his spirit. I was not brought through the front of the Art Institute, to walk up the main steps, on the Avenue, through its impressive galleries as an invited guest. No. Visiting Beauford required an alternative route, through a back door, off the beaten path, rather unnoticed, without fanfare, and disregarded. I knew, right then, that there is something unique about what I am encountering in the way of re-Searching Beauford.
Immediately I shifted my expectations from the cerebral to the spiritual: I was not a scholar doing research, but a guest of Beauford. re-Searching means that I am re-introducing myself to Beauford in a very personal, very intimate, and very spiritual way. The word "re-Search" is a neologism intended to signify différence in my approach to Beauford. I am beginning to see Beauford for myself and in doing so re-determining, re-visiting, re-inventing, what his work, life, and spirit means to me and for me. So, it was not meant for me to come through the front door as a guest might do, but through the back door as a family member or a familiar friend might do: différence!
I met someone – a lady (I am intentionally leaving her unnamed) – who whisked me down, and I do mean down, a service corridor to a vault in the belly of the building. There inside of the vault I saw for the very first time, Beauford’s work in person. It was an untitled abstract painted in 1965.
Untitled by Beauford Delaney
(1965) Oil on canvas
© E.L. Kornegay, Jr.
The colors were vibrant! I could see the artistry and craftsmanship: it was as if he had left a message securely placed within the painting itself. The message expressed control, lucidity, with a subtle protest against any attempts to segregate hues one from another. The colors were a commanding blend of pigments, a lovely fortress holding and protecting a message of togetherness for anyone who was willing to search for it. All of the colors belonged together and from behind them and in between the colors all sorts of visual possibilities emerge. The spirituality of love gets expressed in the work of Beauford.
Untitled by Beauford Delaney (detail)
(1965) Oil on canvas
© E.L. Kornegay, Jr.
For twenty or so minutes I studied the painting. I sought angles and distances, I moved about it creating a dialogue between my eyes, mind and spirit. The distance I felt in my initial entrance into the Art Institute was abated by the warmth I felt viewing and re-Searching Beauford’s painting. It was a wonderful “hello”!
I am just beginning to do more in-depth research into Beauford Delaney. The lack of fanfare, the common view of the world, the back door of human life and culture – its pigmentation – is what Beauford masterfully manipulated. In order to see what he sees, you must enter the world from his point of view: not through the front door, but from the back or the side, maybe the underside where the pillars upon which the world is built hold the most beauty and the most love.
re-Searching Beauford Delaney: An Uneven Introduction
by E. L. Kornegay, Jr., Ph. D.
This is the first reflection in a series that chronicles my research on Beauford Delaney. It is through collaborating with Monique Wells that I am guided into the work, life, and spirit of the Lovely Fortress: Beauford Delaney.
I recently visited the Art Institute of Chicago with a singular purpose in mind: to view the work of Beauford Delaney. I had secured an opportunity that gave me access to his works held in storage and the chance to thumb through some of the research associated with the man and his art.
I was told to go to a back entrance, next to the loading dock, where I would be given a visitor’s pass and made to wait for my contact. There on the side of the building, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the unceremonious off-loading of items heading into the guts of the building, security personnel methodically earning their hourly wage, and a handful of men hanging a poster on a wall next to me, I waited to begin my search for Beauford.
On the surface this description might seem superfluous, an unrelated and unworthy accoutrement to this research project and process. However, I think it conveys a perspective: one that is reflective of how to approach Beauford in order to properly research his work, his life, and his spirit. I was not brought through the front of the Art Institute, to walk up the main steps, on the Avenue, through its impressive galleries as an invited guest. No. Visiting Beauford required an alternative route, through a back door, off the beaten path, rather unnoticed, without fanfare, and disregarded. I knew, right then, that there is something unique about what I am encountering in the way of re-Searching Beauford.
Immediately I shifted my expectations from the cerebral to the spiritual: I was not a scholar doing research, but a guest of Beauford. re-Searching means that I am re-introducing myself to Beauford in a very personal, very intimate, and very spiritual way. The word "re-Search" is a neologism intended to signify différence in my approach to Beauford. I am beginning to see Beauford for myself and in doing so re-determining, re-visiting, re-inventing, what his work, life, and spirit means to me and for me. So, it was not meant for me to come through the front door as a guest might do, but through the back door as a family member or a familiar friend might do: différence!
I met someone – a lady (I am intentionally leaving her unnamed) – who whisked me down, and I do mean down, a service corridor to a vault in the belly of the building. There inside of the vault I saw for the very first time, Beauford’s work in person. It was an untitled abstract painted in 1965.
(1965) Oil on canvas
© E.L. Kornegay, Jr.
The colors were vibrant! I could see the artistry and craftsmanship: it was as if he had left a message securely placed within the painting itself. The message expressed control, lucidity, with a subtle protest against any attempts to segregate hues one from another. The colors were a commanding blend of pigments, a lovely fortress holding and protecting a message of togetherness for anyone who was willing to search for it. All of the colors belonged together and from behind them and in between the colors all sorts of visual possibilities emerge. The spirituality of love gets expressed in the work of Beauford.
(1965) Oil on canvas
© E.L. Kornegay, Jr.
For twenty or so minutes I studied the painting. I sought angles and distances, I moved about it creating a dialogue between my eyes, mind and spirit. The distance I felt in my initial entrance into the Art Institute was abated by the warmth I felt viewing and re-Searching Beauford’s painting. It was a wonderful “hello”!
I am just beginning to do more in-depth research into Beauford Delaney. The lack of fanfare, the common view of the world, the back door of human life and culture – its pigmentation – is what Beauford masterfully manipulated. In order to see what he sees, you must enter the world from his point of view: not through the front door, but from the back or the side, maybe the underside where the pillars upon which the world is built hold the most beauty and the most love.
33rd Anniversary of Beauford's Passing
Monday, March 26th will be the 33rd anniversary of Beauford's death.
The photo below graces the stone that Les Amis de Beauford Delaney had installed at Beauford's final resting place in Thiais Cemetery in 2010.
Portrait of Beauford Delaney
(ca. 1950)
Possibly by Gjon Mili
Beauford was "all about art." I'd like to celebrate this anniversary date by sharing with you some of my favorite works by this magnificent artist and humble human spirit.
Untitled (Abstract Composition)
(1961) Oil monotype on heavy wove paper
Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
Woman in White
(1964-65) Oil on canvas
Photo from Bill Hodges Gallery Web site
Still Life with Pears
(1946) Oil on canvas
Image from the Artsmia.org Website
Portrait of a Man in Green
Beauford Delaney
Oil (undated)
Photo from catalog of Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective
Studio Museum in Harlem
The photo below graces the stone that Les Amis de Beauford Delaney had installed at Beauford's final resting place in Thiais Cemetery in 2010.
(ca. 1950)
Possibly by Gjon Mili
Beauford was "all about art." I'd like to celebrate this anniversary date by sharing with you some of my favorite works by this magnificent artist and humble human spirit.
(1961) Oil monotype on heavy wove paper
Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
(1964-65) Oil on canvas
Photo from Bill Hodges Gallery Web site
(1946) Oil on canvas
Image from the Artsmia.org Website
Beauford Delaney
Oil (undated)
Photo from catalog of Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective
Studio Museum in Harlem
Composition 16
(1954-56) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney; Private Collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney; Private Collection
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
Beauford Delaney
Self-portrait
Oil on canvas (1944)
Art Institute of Chicago
Radio France Interview: Philippe Briet and Darthea Speyer Talk about Beauford
I had the unexpected pleasure of receiving a call from Catherine de la Clergerie of Radio France a few days ago. She told me that she remembers seeing Beauford frequently at Le Select in Montparnasse and wanted to offer me a recording of part of an interview that Radio France recorded with Philippe Briet and Darthea Speyer at the Darthea Speyer Gallery in 1992. The subject: Beauford!
Darthea Speyer Gallery
© Discover Paris!
The roughly 30-minute recording begins with the voice of Darthea Speyer explaining why she decided to mount a retrospective of Beauford's work in 1992. She mentioned that Philippe Briet had mounted a Beauford retrospective a few years earlier and said that she felt she should have done one herself years ago. She also reflected that she should have mounted her first one-man show (1973) of Beauford's work earlier, before his health began to decline.
The majority of the interview featured Phillipe Briet. Briet explained how he discovered Beauford's work at the Studio Museum of Harlem and how each painting that he was able to view evoked in him "profound joy." He recounted how he sought out those who had loaned Beauford's works to the retrospective that was held at the Studio Museum of Harlem in 1978, Richard A. Long as curator of the retrospective, and eventually Darthea Speyer and Solange du Closel in Paris.
What was most interesting about the interview was listening to Briet talk about Beauford as a person. Though he never met Beauford, he expressed definite opinions about Beauford's personality and characteristics. He described Beauford as "one of the most positive beings that one could know in the 20th century." He saw Beauford as a "mystic," someone who was interested in the "soul" of things. He expressed his belief that Beauford's life was one of "solitude, reflection, and concentration."
Philippe Briet
Photo courtesy of Catherine de la Clergerie
Briet said that if he had to cite the work of American abstract expressionist painters whose work "approached" that of Beauford with regard to "sensitivity," he would select Clyfford Still and Mark Tobey. He believed that Beauford's interest in light could not be compared to that of the Impressionists, who were concerned with the physical aspects of light and its effect on objects. He thought that Beauford's work was much more powerful and compared it to that of Rembrandt.
Regarding Beauford's habit of draping his studios in white sheets, Briet considered that this represented Beauford's desire to "see" silence, to be able to look into eternity, to look into time. He saw gravity and pain in Beauford's face as Beauford represented himself in his self-portraits. He thought that the fact that Beauford painted both abstract and figurative works might represent what Beauford saw through his own eyes when he was alone (abstract) juxtaposed with what others saw in the absolute sense (figurative).
Briet said that few artists have the ambition and the pride to have a sense of eternity. This is what he looked for in art - works that made him reflect on time and would make those seeing the works centuries later reflect on time as well. He considered such works to be true art and felt that Beauford's work had this quality.
© Discover Paris!
The roughly 30-minute recording begins with the voice of Darthea Speyer explaining why she decided to mount a retrospective of Beauford's work in 1992. She mentioned that Philippe Briet had mounted a Beauford retrospective a few years earlier and said that she felt she should have done one herself years ago. She also reflected that she should have mounted her first one-man show (1973) of Beauford's work earlier, before his health began to decline.
The majority of the interview featured Phillipe Briet. Briet explained how he discovered Beauford's work at the Studio Museum of Harlem and how each painting that he was able to view evoked in him "profound joy." He recounted how he sought out those who had loaned Beauford's works to the retrospective that was held at the Studio Museum of Harlem in 1978, Richard A. Long as curator of the retrospective, and eventually Darthea Speyer and Solange du Closel in Paris.
What was most interesting about the interview was listening to Briet talk about Beauford as a person. Though he never met Beauford, he expressed definite opinions about Beauford's personality and characteristics. He described Beauford as "one of the most positive beings that one could know in the 20th century." He saw Beauford as a "mystic," someone who was interested in the "soul" of things. He expressed his belief that Beauford's life was one of "solitude, reflection, and concentration."
Photo courtesy of Catherine de la Clergerie
Briet said that if he had to cite the work of American abstract expressionist painters whose work "approached" that of Beauford with regard to "sensitivity," he would select Clyfford Still and Mark Tobey. He believed that Beauford's interest in light could not be compared to that of the Impressionists, who were concerned with the physical aspects of light and its effect on objects. He thought that Beauford's work was much more powerful and compared it to that of Rembrandt.
Regarding Beauford's habit of draping his studios in white sheets, Briet considered that this represented Beauford's desire to "see" silence, to be able to look into eternity, to look into time. He saw gravity and pain in Beauford's face as Beauford represented himself in his self-portraits. He thought that the fact that Beauford painted both abstract and figurative works might represent what Beauford saw through his own eyes when he was alone (abstract) juxtaposed with what others saw in the absolute sense (figurative).
Briet said that few artists have the ambition and the pride to have a sense of eternity. This is what he looked for in art - works that made him reflect on time and would make those seeing the works centuries later reflect on time as well. He considered such works to be true art and felt that Beauford's work had this quality.
Beauford at Cannes
Several months ago, I reported that filmmaker Zachary Miller planned to create a short film (under 30 minutes in length) about Beauford. I am pleased to bring you this update on the project.
Miller's film, which remains unedited and untitled as of today, will be showcased in the Short Film Corner at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Showing the film here will increase its chances of being picked up by other international festivals. It will benefit from the use of the label "Short Film Corner," which reinforces its potential and increase its chances of professional distribution.
As part of the Short Film Corner, the film about Beauford will not be in the Short Film Competition. It will be referenced on www.shortfilmcorner.com and in the Catalogue du Court, which is published by the Cannes Film Festival.
The dates for this year's festival and the Short Film Corner are May 16-27, 2012.
Miller's film, which remains unedited and untitled as of today, will be showcased in the Short Film Corner at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Showing the film here will increase its chances of being picked up by other international festivals. It will benefit from the use of the label "Short Film Corner," which reinforces its potential and increase its chances of professional distribution.
As part of the Short Film Corner, the film about Beauford will not be in the Short Film Competition. It will be referenced on www.shortfilmcorner.com and in the Catalogue du Court, which is published by the Cannes Film Festival.
The dates for this year's festival and the Short Film Corner are May 16-27, 2012.
Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson on Beauford
Romare Bearden, an African-American artist and writer, co-authored a book called A History of African-American Artists – from 1792 to the Present with Anglo-American journalist Harry Henderson. The book contains a brief chapter (seven pages) devoted to Beauford.
The chapter is primarily biographical, but there are also several scholarly descriptions of Beauford’s works. Bearden and Henderson include a frank criticism of Henry Miller’s essay “The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney,” which they describe as a patronizing article that gives a false picture of Beauford as “a mindless, visionary artist.”
There are interesting tidbits of information about Beauford in this chapter and scattered throughout the book, such as the fact that Beauford’s parents named him after the town of Beaufort, South Carolina, from which they migrated during the Civil War. In the six-page chapter on Beauford’s brother Joseph, we learn that some 300 Americans attended Beauford’s funeral service at the American Church in Paris and that the pastor presiding over that service was from the brothers’ home state of Tennessee.
One of the color plates in the book displays Beauford’s portrait of James Baldwin entitled The Sage Black, and cites it as belonging to Mrs. James Jones of Sagaponack, N. Y. at the time the book was published. A black and white photo of Beauford’s 1962 self-portrait (below) is also cited as belonging to Mrs. Jones, who is undoubtedly the wife of writer James Jones, a great friend of Beauford during his Paris years.
Beauford’s 1962 self-portrait as shown on the invitation card of the
1992 Darthea Speyer exposition of Beauford’s works
Card courtesy of the Darthea Speyer Gallery
But my greatest discovery in perusing this book is a photo of a young Beauford looking over the shoulder of Palmer Hayden as Hayden paints at a 1930s outdoor art show in Washington Square in New York City.
It is rare to find photos of the young Beauford!
The chapter is primarily biographical, but there are also several scholarly descriptions of Beauford’s works. Bearden and Henderson include a frank criticism of Henry Miller’s essay “The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney,” which they describe as a patronizing article that gives a false picture of Beauford as “a mindless, visionary artist.”
There are interesting tidbits of information about Beauford in this chapter and scattered throughout the book, such as the fact that Beauford’s parents named him after the town of Beaufort, South Carolina, from which they migrated during the Civil War. In the six-page chapter on Beauford’s brother Joseph, we learn that some 300 Americans attended Beauford’s funeral service at the American Church in Paris and that the pastor presiding over that service was from the brothers’ home state of Tennessee.
One of the color plates in the book displays Beauford’s portrait of James Baldwin entitled The Sage Black, and cites it as belonging to Mrs. James Jones of Sagaponack, N. Y. at the time the book was published. A black and white photo of Beauford’s 1962 self-portrait (below) is also cited as belonging to Mrs. Jones, who is undoubtedly the wife of writer James Jones, a great friend of Beauford during his Paris years.
1992 Darthea Speyer exposition of Beauford’s works
Card courtesy of the Darthea Speyer Gallery
But my greatest discovery in perusing this book is a photo of a young Beauford looking over the shoulder of Palmer Hayden as Hayden paints at a 1930s outdoor art show in Washington Square in New York City.
Palmer C. Hayden and Beauford Delaney at Washington Square, NYC (1930s)
Photo from the National Archives, Harmon Collection
It is rare to find photos of the young Beauford!
Bob Shigeo Remembers Beauford
Bob Shigeo is an American artist and WWII veteran who has lived in Paris since 1953. Inspired by the kinetic art of Alexander Calder and the paintings of Jackson Pollack, he took advantage of the GI bill to study at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Escultura in Mexico, the Art Students’ League in New York, and finally the Ecole de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.
Bob Shigeo at the reception following
the gravesite ceremony in October 2010
© Discover Paris!
Bob’s memory of meeting Beauford is intricately tied to Beauford’s friend Earl Kirkham. (Kirkham was the New York painter that Beauford happened to run into at the Dôme café on his first night in Paris.)
According to Bob, Kirkham was well-known and respected among the American artists in Paris. He taught at the Académie Colarossi, sister school to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière located two doors down the street, where Bob was enrolled. Bob met Beauford either at the Académie Colarossi or the adjacent Wadja Restaurant, but he does not recall the details. Wadja was a very modestly priced restaurant during the 1950s and served as the “headquarters” for those studying at the Grand Chaumière and the Colarossi. Beauford lived nearby at the Hôtel des Ecoles and was always in search of a low-cost meal, so it is likely that the two men met there.
Wadja Restaurant
© Discover Paris!
Though Bob now knows that Beauford was no more than 52 years old when they first met, at the time, he thought that Beauford was around 80 years of age! He thought the same thing about Kirkham, and attributes this to the fact that both men had a certain reputation in the New York art world. He did not know that Beauford and Kirkham had known each other prior to coming to Paris, and said that he found both men to be unpretentious and approachable, despite their “stature.”
Bob visited Beauford many times in Beauford’s studios at the Hôtel des Ecoles and at rue Vercingétorix. He recalls the latter studio being about twice the size of the former, but says that the two places had one special thing in common – the color white. At the Hôtel des Ecoles studio, the walls were covered with traditional French wallpaper (which generally had a busy, colorful pattern). Bob remembers that Beauford covered the walls with white paper so as “not to be distracted” by the walls when he worked. Similarly, at rue Vercingétorix, Bob recalls that Beauford draped everything in the apartment that he could with white sheets.
Bob’s fondest memories of Beauford are at rue Vercingétorix, where he would often stop by on his way home between 5 PM and 7 PM. He said that Beauford was a good cook and he would often prepare a meal that he and Bob would share. Bob noted that though Beauford liked wine, he would never serve wine with these meals.
Beauford had a nice chair in his studio and an easel set up nearby. Bob recalls that Beauford would invite him to sit down and then immediately go over to the easel and begin to sketch or paint him. He always thought it was interesting that Beauford would never ask permission to paint him – he’d just begin working. He painted Bob several times without asking! Unfortunately, the whereabouts of these portraits are unknown.
Once, Bob sat for a portrait in a black pullover one time, but when he saw it, he found that Beauford had painted the pullover in red. Bob indicated that he recognized this as an example of a very important aspect of Beauford’s artistic persona – he said that Beauford did not feel the need to paint “reality” – to copy exactly the forms and colors in front of him. He painted what he “felt,” which is what made him the important artist that he was.
the gravesite ceremony in October 2010
© Discover Paris!
Bob’s memory of meeting Beauford is intricately tied to Beauford’s friend Earl Kirkham. (Kirkham was the New York painter that Beauford happened to run into at the Dôme café on his first night in Paris.)
According to Bob, Kirkham was well-known and respected among the American artists in Paris. He taught at the Académie Colarossi, sister school to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière located two doors down the street, where Bob was enrolled. Bob met Beauford either at the Académie Colarossi or the adjacent Wadja Restaurant, but he does not recall the details. Wadja was a very modestly priced restaurant during the 1950s and served as the “headquarters” for those studying at the Grand Chaumière and the Colarossi. Beauford lived nearby at the Hôtel des Ecoles and was always in search of a low-cost meal, so it is likely that the two men met there.
© Discover Paris!
Though Bob now knows that Beauford was no more than 52 years old when they first met, at the time, he thought that Beauford was around 80 years of age! He thought the same thing about Kirkham, and attributes this to the fact that both men had a certain reputation in the New York art world. He did not know that Beauford and Kirkham had known each other prior to coming to Paris, and said that he found both men to be unpretentious and approachable, despite their “stature.”
Bob visited Beauford many times in Beauford’s studios at the Hôtel des Ecoles and at rue Vercingétorix. He recalls the latter studio being about twice the size of the former, but says that the two places had one special thing in common – the color white. At the Hôtel des Ecoles studio, the walls were covered with traditional French wallpaper (which generally had a busy, colorful pattern). Bob remembers that Beauford covered the walls with white paper so as “not to be distracted” by the walls when he worked. Similarly, at rue Vercingétorix, Bob recalls that Beauford draped everything in the apartment that he could with white sheets.
Bob’s fondest memories of Beauford are at rue Vercingétorix, where he would often stop by on his way home between 5 PM and 7 PM. He said that Beauford was a good cook and he would often prepare a meal that he and Bob would share. Bob noted that though Beauford liked wine, he would never serve wine with these meals.
Beauford had a nice chair in his studio and an easel set up nearby. Bob recalls that Beauford would invite him to sit down and then immediately go over to the easel and begin to sketch or paint him. He always thought it was interesting that Beauford would never ask permission to paint him – he’d just begin working. He painted Bob several times without asking! Unfortunately, the whereabouts of these portraits are unknown.
Once, Bob sat for a portrait in a black pullover one time, but when he saw it, he found that Beauford had painted the pullover in red. Bob indicated that he recognized this as an example of a very important aspect of Beauford’s artistic persona – he said that Beauford did not feel the need to paint “reality” – to copy exactly the forms and colors in front of him. He painted what he “felt,” which is what made him the important artist that he was.
Joseph Delaney Remembers Beauford
Joseph Delaney was Beauford’s younger brother. Born in 1904, he and Beauford were the closest in age of the Delaney siblings. Both became artists and were part of a community of artists living in NYC during the Great Depression. Both have their works exhibited at the Knoxville Museum of Art in their hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Image of a portrait of Joseph Delaney
by Beauford Delaney
in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney
by David A. Leeming
Joseph was asked to contribute remarks to the catalog that was published in conjunction with the first retrospective of Beauford’s work, held at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1978. He described Beauford as “one of the most sensitive and talented of all artists of all times,” and said that if he were to qualify that statement, he would need to explore “all of the qualities which make for the enigma which genius is . . .” He noted that Beauford was recognized early in life as being a special person with unique talents, and that “teachers and other professional people of high rank gave Beauford time and understanding.”
Catalog for Beauford’s 1st Retrospective at the
Studio Museum in Harlem 1978
Joseph also described Beauford as being multitalented, saying that Beauford could “sing like mad,” and play the ukulele, and that he was an excellent mimic. Beauford was the extrovert, while Joseph was the introvert of the two brothers.
Another distinction that Joseph makes in his tribute to his brother is that Beauford developed an appreciation for opera and “other great classics in music and literature.” He states that Beauford was never happier than on the day in 1969 when Joseph visited him in Paris and Beauford took him to the opera.
To read the complete text of Joseph Delaney’s remarks, click on the following link: http://sunsite.utk.edu/delaney/beauford.htm
by Beauford Delaney
in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney
by David A. Leeming
Joseph was asked to contribute remarks to the catalog that was published in conjunction with the first retrospective of Beauford’s work, held at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1978. He described Beauford as “one of the most sensitive and talented of all artists of all times,” and said that if he were to qualify that statement, he would need to explore “all of the qualities which make for the enigma which genius is . . .” He noted that Beauford was recognized early in life as being a special person with unique talents, and that “teachers and other professional people of high rank gave Beauford time and understanding.”
Studio Museum in Harlem 1978
Joseph also described Beauford as being multitalented, saying that Beauford could “sing like mad,” and play the ukulele, and that he was an excellent mimic. Beauford was the extrovert, while Joseph was the introvert of the two brothers.
Another distinction that Joseph makes in his tribute to his brother is that Beauford developed an appreciation for opera and “other great classics in music and literature.” He states that Beauford was never happier than on the day in 1969 when Joseph visited him in Paris and Beauford took him to the opera.
To read the complete text of Joseph Delaney’s remarks, click on the following link: http://sunsite.utk.edu/delaney/beauford.htm
Larry Calcagno's Portrait of Beauford
Larry Calcagno's portrait of Beauford is one of the rare examples of someone other than Beauford committing Beauford's image to paper. (See the posting on the Georgia O'Keeffe portraits for other examples.)
Portrait of Beauford Delaney
Lawrence Calcagno
(1972) Acrylic
I wrote about Beauford's friendship with Calcagno in April of this year. The first image in that article is the cover of the catalogue from an art exposition that presented Calcagno's and Beauford's works together as a tribute to their friendship. Calcagno's portrait of Beauford was shown in this exposition.
In the introduction for the catalogue, David Leeming wrote an exquisite summary of Beauford's and Calcagno's relationship:
Calcagno and Beauford met in 1953, when Beauford came to Paris. They were introduced by a mutual friend, and they became "devoted colleagues." Correspondence between the two men reveals the depth of their friendship, which grew and was strengthened over twenty-plus years.
Calcagno gave Beauford what is perhaps one of the finest tributes of all in a written description of the episode when Beauford disappeared in 1975 and Calcagno and many others scoured the streets of Paris looking for him:
Lawrence Calcagno
(1972) Acrylic
I wrote about Beauford's friendship with Calcagno in April of this year. The first image in that article is the cover of the catalogue from an art exposition that presented Calcagno's and Beauford's works together as a tribute to their friendship. Calcagno's portrait of Beauford was shown in this exposition.
In the introduction for the catalogue, David Leeming wrote an exquisite summary of Beauford's and Calcagno's relationship:
What Beauford Delaney saw in Larry Calcagno was a soul mate and a lifeline to sanity. What Larry saw in Beauford was a remarkable case of total dedication to the mysterious process by which an individual's external and internal life and the essence of life could be re-created in paint.
Calcagno and Beauford met in 1953, when Beauford came to Paris. They were introduced by a mutual friend, and they became "devoted colleagues." Correspondence between the two men reveals the depth of their friendship, which grew and was strengthened over twenty-plus years.
Calcagno gave Beauford what is perhaps one of the finest tributes of all in a written description of the episode when Beauford disappeared in 1975 and Calcagno and many others scoured the streets of Paris looking for him:
He is about the only person in my life, who gave me generously of deep insights into life—without demanding tribute. A true artist—beyond this world!
Kelli Agodon's Tribute to Beauford
A few days ago, Les Amis de Beauford Delaney received a donation from Kelli Russell Agodon, along with a note of thanks to Les Amis for publishing this blog. When I wrote to thank her for her contribution, she responded that she planned to write about Beauford on her blog, Book of Kells.
On Thursday, July 14th, she did just that.
Kelli's tribute to Beauford is entitled Thankful Thursday - Beauford Delaney, American Artist. In it, she describes him as her "favorite artist that many people have never heard of," and thanks the Les Amis blog for keeping Beauford's memory alive. She includes links to David Leeming's biography of Beauford and to the Artsmia Web site for images of Beauford's work. She states that she is thankful for his art and for being able to share Beauford with her readers.
Thank you, Kelli, for taking the time to write about Beauford and for your heartfelt words!
On Thursday, July 14th, she did just that.
Kelli's tribute to Beauford is entitled Thankful Thursday - Beauford Delaney, American Artist. In it, she describes him as her "favorite artist that many people have never heard of," and thanks the Les Amis blog for keeping Beauford's memory alive. She includes links to David Leeming's biography of Beauford
and to the Artsmia Web site for images of Beauford's work. She states that she is thankful for his art and for being able to share Beauford with her readers.Thank you, Kelli, for taking the time to write about Beauford and for your heartfelt words!
Why Artisan? Thinking about Beauford
By EL Kornegay Jr.
James Baldwin once wrote that what Beauford taught him to see first was not his painting, his art, “that came later,” but the world as Beauford “caused me to see it.”ii It is important that we understand Beauford the artisan so that we might understand his artistic genius and the deep beauty of his art.
Portrait of Beauford Delaney
(ca. 1950)
Possibly by Gjon Mili
If we look at Beauford and his work through the lens that he taught Baldwin to use to view the world, then our initial glance frames him as an artisan who practiced first seeing and then painting. I would say his aim was not to produce fine art for us to regard from a distance, standing behind a velvet rope, while artificial light reflects the sophistication of the one viewing. Rather, Beauford the Artisan wanted to cause us to see something that we do not want to see. He wanted to teach us to see our world and to love even that which is considered the least of it.
It is at second glance that we see Beauford become an artist: a skilled practitioner whose life and work is just beginning to be recognized as “fine art.” His world went unnoticed by most; the darkness he made beautiful mattered only to him, and he remained faithful to what he saw.
It is my guess that this is the way for many who, like Beauford, practiced a craft on the margins where most do not dare to look or experience. They refuse to sacrifice the truth of what they see for the sake of acceptance – for the sake of what we perceive to be art.
Beauford Delaney becomes an artist only after we apprehend what he causes us to see – not before. He becomes an artist only after we have learned the practice of seeing the world – not merely its colors or its dimensions, but the spirit of the light shaping it in our eyes and minds. James Baldwin says of his mentor, “Beauford’s work leads the inner and the outer eye, directly and inexorable, to a new confrontation with reality.”iii
Portrait of James Baldwin
Beauford Delaney
(1945) Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The artisan gives way to the artist only when we have accepted how he practices seeing the world and paints it. This is what makes Beauford Delaney an artisan who we are beginning to love as an artist and this is what makes his work fine art.
************
i This reflection is in response to the question of why I used “artisan” to describe Beauford Delaney. I am using James Baldwin as an interlocutor to frame this reflection, since it is he that first introduced me to Beauford as the one who taught him to see the world and to paint its beauty with his words. As such, I see myself as a student of both men.
ii James Baldwin, “On the Painter Beauford Delaney” in James Baldwin: Collected Essay, Toni Morrison, ed. (New York, N.Y.: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998), 721.
iii Ibid, pp.720.
In a previous posting entitled "Beauford Delaney: The Artisan as Witness," EL Kornegay Jr. took a first, insightful look at Beauford's art from the vantage point of his emerging awareness of Beauford's influence on James Baldwin. Here, he elaborates on what he sees as the difference between Beauford as "artist" and Beauford as "artisan."There may seem to be very little difference between the words “artist” and “artisan.” On the surface it is easy to see that the former proceeds from the latter. However, the application of these words can and does mean something different to the one labeling and the one being labeled. Such is the case with Beauford Delaney.i
James Baldwin once wrote that what Beauford taught him to see first was not his painting, his art, “that came later,” but the world as Beauford “caused me to see it.”ii It is important that we understand Beauford the artisan so that we might understand his artistic genius and the deep beauty of his art.
(ca. 1950)
Possibly by Gjon Mili
If we look at Beauford and his work through the lens that he taught Baldwin to use to view the world, then our initial glance frames him as an artisan who practiced first seeing and then painting. I would say his aim was not to produce fine art for us to regard from a distance, standing behind a velvet rope, while artificial light reflects the sophistication of the one viewing. Rather, Beauford the Artisan wanted to cause us to see something that we do not want to see. He wanted to teach us to see our world and to love even that which is considered the least of it.
It is at second glance that we see Beauford become an artist: a skilled practitioner whose life and work is just beginning to be recognized as “fine art.” His world went unnoticed by most; the darkness he made beautiful mattered only to him, and he remained faithful to what he saw.
It is my guess that this is the way for many who, like Beauford, practiced a craft on the margins where most do not dare to look or experience. They refuse to sacrifice the truth of what they see for the sake of acceptance – for the sake of what we perceive to be art.
Beauford Delaney becomes an artist only after we apprehend what he causes us to see – not before. He becomes an artist only after we have learned the practice of seeing the world – not merely its colors or its dimensions, but the spirit of the light shaping it in our eyes and minds. James Baldwin says of his mentor, “Beauford’s work leads the inner and the outer eye, directly and inexorable, to a new confrontation with reality.”iii
Beauford Delaney
(1945) Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The artisan gives way to the artist only when we have accepted how he practices seeing the world and paints it. This is what makes Beauford Delaney an artisan who we are beginning to love as an artist and this is what makes his work fine art.
i This reflection is in response to the question of why I used “artisan” to describe Beauford Delaney. I am using James Baldwin as an interlocutor to frame this reflection, since it is he that first introduced me to Beauford as the one who taught him to see the world and to paint its beauty with his words. As such, I see myself as a student of both men.
ii James Baldwin, “On the Painter Beauford Delaney” in James Baldwin: Collected Essay, Toni Morrison, ed. (New York, N.Y.: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998), 721.
iii Ibid, pp.720.
Beauford Delaney: The Artisan as Witness
by EL Kornegay
Delaney lived what he painted. He was a witness in the purest sense of the word, giving us a glimpse into a world we often pity and therefore prefer to gaze upon and understand second-hand. It is the world we thoughtfully remark about how grateful we are to encounter only in passing. Using the darkened corners of a peripheral world, Beauford brought color, light, images, and realities only imagined by some – but lived by him – to the center of the universe. Amongst the deepest blacks, through cascading earth tones, yellows, reds, blues, and abiding pastels; the prickly and soothing geometry of shapes gives witness, in a color-full panoramic voice, to a life obscured.
The Eye
Beauford Delaney
(1965) Oil on canvas
Private Collection
© Discover Paris
Beauford channeled the madness and painted saneness with it. He witnessed that fire from within the gulf of its flames and heat. His soul was charred in deep places and the searing images that emerged give us a glimpse into the mindful beauty that exists alongside the terror of the world in which we live and most often, without any resistance, allow to live in us. Beauford was trying to get it out, to exorcise through his art the pain, anguish, and beauty of one who witnesses a world gone mad and is maddened by it.
James Baldwin said of Delaney, “The reality of his seeing caused me to begin to see.”i This is the gift of Delaney’s work: it gives a “vocabulary of color and sounds” and “beauty even in the metaphorical and literal gutter” to our maddening world.
Dark Rapture
(Portrait of James Baldwin as it appears in Amazing Grace)
(1941) Oil on board
© Discover Paris
Beauford Delaney’s life and work is trying to speak to us: it is trying to get us to say and see something different about our world, ourselves, and the madness we all rationalize as reasonable. To appreciate the work of Beauford Delaney is to accept the beauty of those things – memories and people – we choose to throw away, to allow to lie in the gutter, and to not witness. It is also the acceptance of the idea that the things we hold onto to prove our sanity are, in fact, driving us insane. Delaney provides us a glimpse of beauty, color and sounds of the people, places, and things of the margins. Through Beauford’s artistic witness we are given a picture of sanity that makes the canvas of a maddening world beautiful and normal.
i David Leeming, James Baldwin: A Biography (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994), 33-34
EL Kornegay, Jr. is a FTE Fellow and PhD Candidate at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, where he is nearing completion of his dissertation on the religious and theological mind of James Baldwin. His awareness and appreciation of Beauford and his work has arisen because of his investigation of Beauford’s influence on Baldwin.I have come to know Beauford Delaney in a marginal and vicarious fashion. I say marginal in the sense that his works give color, shape, contexts and contours to the not-so-readily-apparent minds, bodies, and souls haunting the edges of our social, literal, and artistic worlds. I say vicarious because in his depictions of the margins of these worlds, he boldly exposes those things we are less willing to see and accept in ourselves and the world around us. Into our world and time, Delaney’s witness is slowly being unearthed and made recognizable to those of us whose social and cultural viewpoint obscures the gritty haunts and shadows of a world we mostly view as shockingly entertaining – a world of madness.
Delaney lived what he painted. He was a witness in the purest sense of the word, giving us a glimpse into a world we often pity and therefore prefer to gaze upon and understand second-hand. It is the world we thoughtfully remark about how grateful we are to encounter only in passing. Using the darkened corners of a peripheral world, Beauford brought color, light, images, and realities only imagined by some – but lived by him – to the center of the universe. Amongst the deepest blacks, through cascading earth tones, yellows, reds, blues, and abiding pastels; the prickly and soothing geometry of shapes gives witness, in a color-full panoramic voice, to a life obscured.
Beauford Delaney
(1965) Oil on canvas
Private Collection
© Discover Paris
Beauford channeled the madness and painted saneness with it. He witnessed that fire from within the gulf of its flames and heat. His soul was charred in deep places and the searing images that emerged give us a glimpse into the mindful beauty that exists alongside the terror of the world in which we live and most often, without any resistance, allow to live in us. Beauford was trying to get it out, to exorcise through his art the pain, anguish, and beauty of one who witnesses a world gone mad and is maddened by it.
James Baldwin said of Delaney, “The reality of his seeing caused me to begin to see.”i This is the gift of Delaney’s work: it gives a “vocabulary of color and sounds” and “beauty even in the metaphorical and literal gutter” to our maddening world.
(Portrait of James Baldwin as it appears in Amazing Grace)
(1941) Oil on board
© Discover Paris
Beauford Delaney’s life and work is trying to speak to us: it is trying to get us to say and see something different about our world, ourselves, and the madness we all rationalize as reasonable. To appreciate the work of Beauford Delaney is to accept the beauty of those things – memories and people – we choose to throw away, to allow to lie in the gutter, and to not witness. It is also the acceptance of the idea that the things we hold onto to prove our sanity are, in fact, driving us insane. Delaney provides us a glimpse of beauty, color and sounds of the people, places, and things of the margins. Through Beauford’s artistic witness we are given a picture of sanity that makes the canvas of a maddening world beautiful and normal.
i David Leeming, James Baldwin: A Biography (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994), 33-34
A Film about Beauford
Since the founding of Les Amis de Beauford Delaney in 2009, I have spoken with several filmmakers who have expressed interest in creating a work about Beauford. Zachary J. Miller of 2 Bulls on the Hill Productions is the first to take concrete action on this idea. He is currently producing a short film (30 minutes or less) about Beauford – the man and the artist. Miller’s goal is to present several aspects of Beauford’s life and a few of the many works that he created while living in Paris.
Zachary J. Miller
© Discover Paris!
Miller is a long time Paris resident. His idea for the film evolved after he donated his services and those of his team to film and photograph Beauford’s gravesite ceremony and reception in October 2010. Since then, he has sought out individuals in Paris who own Delaney paintings, interviewed them, and filmed and photographed the works. He has also interviewed persons who knew Beauford personally, and recorded their anecdotes and other remembrances.
Miller will direct and produce the short film, which does not have a title at present. Because of the volume of footage that he has recorded and the richness of the interviews that he has conducted, he is considering creating a documentary instead of a short film. He will make a final decision about this once he has conducted his final interviews.
The most important and extensive of Miller’s interviews was with Burt Reinfrank, a dear friend of Beauford who spends several months a year in Paris with his wife Pat. Miller and I met with the Reinfranks in their apartment, where we listened to Burt recount numerous stories about his relationship with Beauford, Beauford’s persona, and Beauford’s art.
Miller filming Burt and Pat Reinfrank
in their Paris apartment
© Discover Paris!
Other persons interviewed include Tannie Stovall, co-founder of 2 Bulls on the Hill Productions and a personal acquaintance of Beauford, and Constance Borde, president of Democrats Abroad and owner of a Delaney painting.
2 Bulls on the Hill Productions is an American-owned and operated French film production company with offices in Paris and Saint Tropez. The company produces feature films, documentaries, short films, and programs for television. It regularly participates in the Cannes Film Festival in France and takes part in other international film festivals such as the Raindance Film Festival in the UK as well.
© Discover Paris!
Miller is a long time Paris resident. His idea for the film evolved after he donated his services and those of his team to film and photograph Beauford’s gravesite ceremony and reception in October 2010. Since then, he has sought out individuals in Paris who own Delaney paintings, interviewed them, and filmed and photographed the works. He has also interviewed persons who knew Beauford personally, and recorded their anecdotes and other remembrances.
Miller will direct and produce the short film, which does not have a title at present. Because of the volume of footage that he has recorded and the richness of the interviews that he has conducted, he is considering creating a documentary instead of a short film. He will make a final decision about this once he has conducted his final interviews.
The most important and extensive of Miller’s interviews was with Burt Reinfrank, a dear friend of Beauford who spends several months a year in Paris with his wife Pat. Miller and I met with the Reinfranks in their apartment, where we listened to Burt recount numerous stories about his relationship with Beauford, Beauford’s persona, and Beauford’s art.
in their Paris apartment
© Discover Paris!
Other persons interviewed include Tannie Stovall, co-founder of 2 Bulls on the Hill Productions and a personal acquaintance of Beauford, and Constance Borde, president of Democrats Abroad and owner of a Delaney painting.
2 Bulls on the Hill Productions is an American-owned and operated French film production company with offices in Paris and Saint Tropez. The company produces feature films, documentaries, short films, and programs for television. It regularly participates in the Cannes Film Festival in France and takes part in other international film festivals such as the Raindance Film Festival in the UK as well.
Beauford and Al Hirschfeld
Albert Hirschfeld
Charcoal on paper, Private collection
Image from Beauford Delaney: New York to Paris catalog
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Al Hirschfeld was a well-known caracaturist and a friend of Beauford. Little detail is available in print about their relationship, but it is evident that Hirschfeld (and his wife, Dolly) were very fond of Beauford and supportive of him as well.
Much of what we know comes from the Leeming biography Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney
. Beauford met Hirschfeld in New York, when Beauford was working as a doorman at the Whitney Studio Galleries (which would become the Whitney Museum). They became friends, and Beauford would go on to sketch Hirschfeld and paint his portrait. Hirschfeld was a part of Beauford's life during the "New York Years," socializing with him and introducing him to people who would become Beauford's patrons and friends as well. He and his wife would also visit Beauford several times in Paris.Leeming indicates that Hirschfeld, Don Freeman, and other friends helped Beauford through a period of depression that began at the end of 1941. Hirschfeld contributed funds for the ticket that Beauford purchased to sail to France in 1953 and arranged for Beauford to meet people in the art gallery world once he arrived in Paris. He introduced Beauford to Sergei Radamsky, a singer and music teacher with whom Beauford would travel through Europe in 1954. When Beauford needed medical care after his suicide attempt in 1961, Hirschfeld was among the many friends that sent money to settle Beauford's hospital bill.
Al Hirschfeld's papers are held by the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian. Among them, one finds letters from Beauford to Hirschfeld and a loan agreement from the Studio Museum in Harlem for one of Beauford's works. Two Delaney paintings that were owned by the Hirschfelds' were shown at the Studio Museum's 1978 exposition of Beauford's works: The Time of Your Life and Greene Street.