Delaney Painting on Display at Point of View Exposition in Detroit
Point of View is the title for the exposition of masterworks by modern African-American artists that is currently on display at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. A sister exposition of contemporary works is on display at the Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Michigan. Both shows feature pieces from the splendid African-American and African-Diaspora art collection of Elliot and Kimberly Perry.
As reported by Les Amis last October, an untitled painting by Beauford is part of this special exposition:
Untitled
(1964) Oil on canvas
25 x 21 inches
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image by Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
At the request of Ashley Phifer, Assistant Curator at the Flint Institute of Arts (FIA), Elliot Perry posed for a photo (destined exclusively for the Les Amis blog) in which he stands next to the painting.
Elliot Perry and Untitled by Beauford Delaney
Image courtesy of Ashley Phifer
Thank you, Mr. Perry!
Ms. Phifer told Les Amis that the Charles H. Wright hasn't had a formal opening for the exposition yet. She says "it is in the works." In contrast, the FIA had its opening on January 25th with over 400 people in attendance. Phifer says that both museums have been drawing great numbers for attendance, "especially since the show works well with African-American History Month."
From the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Web site:
The exposition at the Wright Museum will be on display through April 20. The exhibition is free with museum admission. Upon providing proof of purchase of an entry ticket, those who attend either the Detroit or Flint exposition are entitled to admission at the partner institution during the exhibition period. For more information call (313) 494-5800.
As reported by Les Amis last October, an untitled painting by Beauford is part of this special exposition:
(1964) Oil on canvas
25 x 21 inches
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image by Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
At the request of Ashley Phifer, Assistant Curator at the Flint Institute of Arts (FIA), Elliot Perry posed for a photo (destined exclusively for the Les Amis blog) in which he stands next to the painting.
Image courtesy of Ashley Phifer
Thank you, Mr. Perry!
Ms. Phifer told Les Amis that the Charles H. Wright hasn't had a formal opening for the exposition yet. She says "it is in the works." In contrast, the FIA had its opening on January 25th with over 400 people in attendance. Phifer says that both museums have been drawing great numbers for attendance, "especially since the show works well with African-American History Month."
From the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Web site:
Elliot Perry, a former professional basketball player and Memphis native, started to collect mid-to late 20th century African American art with his wife Kimberly in 1996. Perry has said that his passion for art now rivals his love for basketball. He credits Walter Evans and Darrell Walker with inspiring him to become a collector. For each of these men, collecting works of art is more than just accumulating random pieces; their objective is focused on preserving slices of African American history and culture through the arts.
The exposition at the Wright Museum will be on display through April 20. The exhibition is free with museum admission. Upon providing proof of purchase of an entry ticket, those who attend either the Detroit or Flint exposition are entitled to admission at the partner institution during the exhibition period. For more information call (313) 494-5800.
BEAUFORD DELANEY: One Voice (1954-1974)
Beauford Delaney used his brush to add his voice to the fight for civil rights.
Even when he resided in France during the later years of his life, he remained connected to his home - America, and the plight of his family and friends fighting for equality.
His relationship with James Baldwin, friendship with Marian Anderson, and a steady stream of newspaper clippings and letters from abroad closed the distance of an ocean and inspired him to paint his Rosa Parks series. Two Woman Sitting on a Park Bench is one of only three paintings in this important series.
Two Woman Sitting on a Park Bench, nd
Oil on canvas
21 x 25.5 inches
Estate stamped
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Levis Fine Art is proud to present this important painting and other fine works from the estate of Beauford Delaney.
Exhibition Dates: February 1 – March 1, 2014
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm or by appointment.
Contact: James Levis
Levis Fine Art
514 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
(646) 620-5000
Email:
Even when he resided in France during the later years of his life, he remained connected to his home - America, and the plight of his family and friends fighting for equality.
His relationship with James Baldwin, friendship with Marian Anderson, and a steady stream of newspaper clippings and letters from abroad closed the distance of an ocean and inspired him to paint his Rosa Parks series. Two Woman Sitting on a Park Bench is one of only three paintings in this important series.
Oil on canvas
21 x 25.5 inches
Estate stamped
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Levis Fine Art is proud to present this important painting and other fine works from the estate of Beauford Delaney.
Exhibition Dates: February 1 – March 1, 2014
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm or by appointment.
Contact: James Levis
Levis Fine Art
514 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
(646) 620-5000
Email:
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 3
Here are two additional gems in the Tricoire brothers' collection of Beauford Delaney paintings!
This one is owned by Robert:
Untitled
(1962) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Robert Tricoire
And this one is owned by Jacques:
Untitled
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Robert Tricoire
If any additional information about the collection becomes available, I will bring it to you here on the blog.
See Part 1 and Part 2 of Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection by clicking on the links below:
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 1
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 2
This one is owned by Robert:
(1962) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Robert Tricoire
And this one is owned by Jacques:
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Robert Tricoire
If any additional information about the collection becomes available, I will bring it to you here on the blog.
See Part 1 and Part 2 of Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection by clicking on the links below:
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 1
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 2
Bob Tomlinson on Beauford's Painting at the Centre Pompidou
Bob Tomlinson is an artist, a retired French professor, and a long-time Paris resident who made the City of Light his home “by accident”! He lived in Paris during the 1968 uprising, moved away for several years, and then came back and established permanent residency in the city.
Bob Tomlinson and Anna Comnena
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson
Bob shares a few personal remarks on the untitled painting by Beauford in the exhibition Modernités Plurielles at the Centre Pompidou.
************
Untitled
(1957) Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
For me, Beauford’s most productive period evokes with a certain nostalgia a period of my life in Paris — the 60s, when I was a young painter and he had attained his artistic maturity. So I was very interested to see this unique and rarely exhibited work from the Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection.
The exhibit aspires to be a survey of global modernism and as such it is somewhat overwhelming. (Admittedly, I have a limited tolerance for museums; after an hour my retinas overload and I can no longer see.) For anyone interested in African-American artists in the City of Light, the undoubted highlights of the show are the three appearances of Josephine Baker (a photo, a film of her dancing, a wire sculpture by Alexander Calder) and, of course, the painting by Beauford.
Unfortunately, whether intentional or not, the exhibition continues the neglect and marginalization from which Beauford suffered during his lifetime. As far as I could tell, he does not figure in the catalog and one finds his painting almost by accident in a small transverse corridor two-thirds of the way through the vast exhibit.
Done a few years after his arrival in Paris, this 1957 painting is a striking example of Beauford’s personal appropriation of an abstract expressionist aesthetic. Usually Beauford’s works in this vein are wholly non-representational. However, this one is different. The thick paint surface is agitated by an abstract textual and coloristic whirlwind, but out of this tangle of yellows and reds a form resembling that of a fierce lion emerges, suggested by paint strokes of an intense blue, although other purely abstract splashes of the same blue scattered on the background render the interpretation ambiguous.
The tension between the abstract and the figurative in Beauford’s paintings (I’m thinking of paintings like his 1965 portrait of James Baldwin, which perhaps unconsciously inspired my own 2013 version) is not restricted to African-American artists, but they (we) feel it with a particular acuteness — the interest in the formal qualities of the work pitched against the need to express the heavy burden of history in a more figurative narrative form.
Portrait of James Baldwin
(1965) Oil on canvas
Private collection
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
James Baldwin
(2013) Bob Tomlinson
Image courtesy of the artist
Beauford bridges this gap in the ambiguously abstract Pompidou painting by his imagery and personal use of color, as he does in his portraits, which despite their figurative content utilize the same techniques. For him, his favorite color yellow had complex spiritual and emotional meanings, from the unsettling lime-yellow background of Baldwin’s portrait to the vibrant yellows that dominate the other primaries, red and blue, in the Pompidou painting. All this intense personal energy contrasts with the gentle, contemplative soul whom I knew in the cafés of Saint Germain and Montparnasse.
The disjunction between the surface personality of artists and their work is not uncommon. I consider myself somewhat laid back, and I think I’m often perceived as such, yet I’ve been described as “a serene New Yorker who paints troubled pictures.” Whether he is in an abstract or figurative mode, one of the things I admire most about Beauford is his fidelity to a private, deeply felt emotion that may not be apparent on the outside, a quality lacking in some other works of the exhibition that seem dictated by an impersonal artistic doctrine rather than any inner truth.
Having said that, there are many interesting things to see: for example a section of contemporary African artists and Larry Rivers' reworking of Manet’s Olympia in terms of American race relations. The show is on until January 2015, so don’t miss it!
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson
Bob shares a few personal remarks on the untitled painting by Beauford in the exhibition Modernités Plurielles at the Centre Pompidou.
(1957) Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
For me, Beauford’s most productive period evokes with a certain nostalgia a period of my life in Paris — the 60s, when I was a young painter and he had attained his artistic maturity. So I was very interested to see this unique and rarely exhibited work from the Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection.
The exhibit aspires to be a survey of global modernism and as such it is somewhat overwhelming. (Admittedly, I have a limited tolerance for museums; after an hour my retinas overload and I can no longer see.) For anyone interested in African-American artists in the City of Light, the undoubted highlights of the show are the three appearances of Josephine Baker (a photo, a film of her dancing, a wire sculpture by Alexander Calder) and, of course, the painting by Beauford.
Unfortunately, whether intentional or not, the exhibition continues the neglect and marginalization from which Beauford suffered during his lifetime. As far as I could tell, he does not figure in the catalog and one finds his painting almost by accident in a small transverse corridor two-thirds of the way through the vast exhibit.
Done a few years after his arrival in Paris, this 1957 painting is a striking example of Beauford’s personal appropriation of an abstract expressionist aesthetic. Usually Beauford’s works in this vein are wholly non-representational. However, this one is different. The thick paint surface is agitated by an abstract textual and coloristic whirlwind, but out of this tangle of yellows and reds a form resembling that of a fierce lion emerges, suggested by paint strokes of an intense blue, although other purely abstract splashes of the same blue scattered on the background render the interpretation ambiguous.
The tension between the abstract and the figurative in Beauford’s paintings (I’m thinking of paintings like his 1965 portrait of James Baldwin, which perhaps unconsciously inspired my own 2013 version) is not restricted to African-American artists, but they (we) feel it with a particular acuteness — the interest in the formal qualities of the work pitched against the need to express the heavy burden of history in a more figurative narrative form.
(1965) Oil on canvas
Private collection
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(2013) Bob Tomlinson
Image courtesy of the artist
Beauford bridges this gap in the ambiguously abstract Pompidou painting by his imagery and personal use of color, as he does in his portraits, which despite their figurative content utilize the same techniques. For him, his favorite color yellow had complex spiritual and emotional meanings, from the unsettling lime-yellow background of Baldwin’s portrait to the vibrant yellows that dominate the other primaries, red and blue, in the Pompidou painting. All this intense personal energy contrasts with the gentle, contemplative soul whom I knew in the cafés of Saint Germain and Montparnasse.
The disjunction between the surface personality of artists and their work is not uncommon. I consider myself somewhat laid back, and I think I’m often perceived as such, yet I’ve been described as “a serene New Yorker who paints troubled pictures.” Whether he is in an abstract or figurative mode, one of the things I admire most about Beauford is his fidelity to a private, deeply felt emotion that may not be apparent on the outside, a quality lacking in some other works of the exhibition that seem dictated by an impersonal artistic doctrine rather than any inner truth.
Having said that, there are many interesting things to see: for example a section of contemporary African artists and Larry Rivers' reworking of Manet’s Olympia in terms of American race relations. The show is on until January 2015, so don’t miss it!
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 2
Robert Tricoire's brother, Jacques Tricoire, is also enamored of Beauford's work and owns original Delaney paintings.
The painting shown below is one of them. It is utterly fascinating to me because it is the only one I have ever seen by Beauford that is predominantly white!
The story behind the painting tells all:
Jean-Claude Killy
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
In 1962, alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy* was slated to compete in the World Cup Championship in Chamonix, France. Only a couple of weeks prior to this competition, Killy broke his leg in an attempt to qualify for a downhill competition in Italy and was unable to compete for the World Cup. This is what inspired Beauford to paint Jean-Claude Killy.
Jean-Claude Killy (detail)
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Jean-Claude Killy (signature)
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
We can presume that the white in this painting represents snow and the blue-brown arcs that cross the painting represent ski tracks. Splotches and specks of blue add the "chill factor" of winter.
*Killy would go on to win several gold medals at the World Championship competition in Portillo, Chile in 1968 and at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.
The painting shown below is one of them. It is utterly fascinating to me because it is the only one I have ever seen by Beauford that is predominantly white!
The story behind the painting tells all:
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
In 1962, alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy* was slated to compete in the World Cup Championship in Chamonix, France. Only a couple of weeks prior to this competition, Killy broke his leg in an attempt to qualify for a downhill competition in Italy and was unable to compete for the World Cup. This is what inspired Beauford to paint Jean-Claude Killy.
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
We can presume that the white in this painting represents snow and the blue-brown arcs that cross the painting represent ski tracks. Splotches and specks of blue add the "chill factor" of winter.
*Killy would go on to win several gold medals at the World Championship competition in Portillo, Chile in 1968 and at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.
Beauford's Art: The Tricoire Collection - Part 1
Robert Tricoire has been gracious enough to share information and anecdotes about Beauford's Paris years and he has also allowed me to view his wonderful collection of Delaney paintings.
He commissioned one of them,
Portrait of Robert Tricoire
(1969) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
purchased others,
Untitled
(1963) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
and received others as gifts from Beauford.
Les Embruns
(1963) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
Robert's brother owns paintings by Beauford as well.
Next week, I'll share an image of one of these works that completely astonished me!
He commissioned one of them,
(1969) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
purchased others,
(1963) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
and received others as gifts from Beauford.
(1963) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!
Robert's brother owns paintings by Beauford as well.
Next week, I'll share an image of one of these works that completely astonished me!
A New Year for Les Amis de Beauford Delaney
Happy New Year everyone!
It's hard to believe that the Les Amis blog has been in existence for just over four years! I have loved every minute of the effort that it has taken to keep Beauford's memory alive and to share his artistic gift with the world. 2013 was particularly special in this regard due to the large number of paintings that Beauford's estate has recovered and the exposition at Levis Fine Art that showcased many of them last May / June.
Untitled: Abstract in Red, Green, Ochre and Black
(1962) Gouache on wove paper
Signed and dated lower right, Paris
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image supplied by Levis Fine Art Gallery*
This year, Les Amis hopes to accomplish something that will preserve Beauford's memory in a different way. The organization continues to pursue the possibility of having a Beauford Delaney commemorative plaque installed in Beauford's beloved Montparnasse.
We were engaged in talks with the Hôtel Lenox (formerly the Hôtel des Ecoles) about this last summer, but the owner of the building eventually declined to accept our proposal. Happily, the owner of the Hôtel Odessa, where Beauford spent several of his first days in Paris, has agreed to have the plaque installed there. We must now receive the approval of the City of Paris before anything further can be done. I will certainly keep you posted as things progress!
Hotel d'Odessa
© Discover Paris!
I have also had the pleasure of meeting Paris residents who knew Beauford personally and who have graciously taken the time to talk with me or write to me about their experiences with him and to show me paintings that he gave them. I plan to bring you as many of these stories as I receive permission to share.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the faithful followers of this blog for your support and encouragement. I am looking forward to sharing new discoveries with you in 2014!
Beauford's Paint Box
© Discover Paris!
It's hard to believe that the Les Amis blog has been in existence for just over four years! I have loved every minute of the effort that it has taken to keep Beauford's memory alive and to share his artistic gift with the world. 2013 was particularly special in this regard due to the large number of paintings that Beauford's estate has recovered and the exposition at Levis Fine Art that showcased many of them last May / June.
(1962) Gouache on wove paper
Signed and dated lower right, Paris
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image supplied by Levis Fine Art Gallery*
This year, Les Amis hopes to accomplish something that will preserve Beauford's memory in a different way. The organization continues to pursue the possibility of having a Beauford Delaney commemorative plaque installed in Beauford's beloved Montparnasse.
We were engaged in talks with the Hôtel Lenox (formerly the Hôtel des Ecoles) about this last summer, but the owner of the building eventually declined to accept our proposal. Happily, the owner of the Hôtel Odessa, where Beauford spent several of his first days in Paris, has agreed to have the plaque installed there. We must now receive the approval of the City of Paris before anything further can be done. I will certainly keep you posted as things progress!
© Discover Paris!
I have also had the pleasure of meeting Paris residents who knew Beauford personally and who have graciously taken the time to talk with me or write to me about their experiences with him and to show me paintings that he gave them. I plan to bring you as many of these stories as I receive permission to share.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the faithful followers of this blog for your support and encouragement. I am looking forward to sharing new discoveries with you in 2014!
© Discover Paris!
Beauford on View at the Centre Pompidou
In 2011, I reported that the Centre Pompidou holds one of Beauford's abstract expressionist paintings on reserve. It was donated to the museum by M. and Mme du Closel, who were devoted patrons of Beauford.
I am thrilled to report that the painting is now on display! It is part of the Multiple Modernities 1905-1970 exposition (also called Plural Modalities) that will hang until January 2015.
Monique and Beauford's Untitled (1957) Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work hangs in a short corridor (Traverse G) between Rooms 31 and 34 on the 5th floor of the museum. Because it is not displayed in a room, it can be difficult to find. I had to ask at the visitor's information area (4th floor) where the painting is hung and was dismayed to learn that neither Beauford's name, nor a listing of the painting, appear in the official catalog for the exposition or the museum's Intranet. One of the attendants was kind enough to walk me to the exact location of the painting.
Location of Beauford's Painting
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The label text copy presents the following information in English (translated from French):
For reasons unknown, the Pompidou Center has Beauford's name listed as Pierre Beauford-Delaney in its online data base. While they corrected this in the text for the painting and the biographical information presented about Beauford in French, I was disappointed to note that they neglected to correct it in the English translation.
The information presented about Beauford himself is scant and not quite accurate (he began his New York career by painting dancers and society women at Billy Pierce's Dancing School, not by painting jazz musicians). I had hoped for a more detailed description of the painting as well.
All that aside, the work is magnificent - it is well worth a trip to the museum to see it! The exposition is on display through January 26, 2015.
Centre Georges Pompidou
19 Rue Beaubourg
75004 Paris
Telephone: 01 44 78 12 33
Metro: Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, and Châtelet
Open every day except Tuesdays and May 1.
Hours: 11am-10pm. No tickets sold after 8pm.
I am thrilled to report that the painting is now on display! It is part of the Multiple Modernities 1905-1970 exposition (also called Plural Modalities) that will hang until January 2015.
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work hangs in a short corridor (Traverse G) between Rooms 31 and 34 on the 5th floor of the museum. Because it is not displayed in a room, it can be difficult to find. I had to ask at the visitor's information area (4th floor) where the painting is hung and was dismayed to learn that neither Beauford's name, nor a listing of the painting, appear in the official catalog for the exposition or the museum's Intranet. One of the attendants was kind enough to walk me to the exact location of the painting.
© Discover Paris!
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The label text copy presents the following information in English (translated from French):
African-American artist Pierre [sic] Beauford-Delaney studied in Boston then at the Art Student League in New York, with John Sloan. He joined the Harlem Renaissance movement, which was struggling for African-American emancipation, and started painting live portraits of jazz musicians playing in Harlem jazz clubs. He had settled in Paris by 1953, when he had gravitated toward abstract expressionism. In this work, the distinguishable blue figure in the thick swirl of predominantly red and yellow paint could be an animal.
For reasons unknown, the Pompidou Center has Beauford's name listed as Pierre Beauford-Delaney in its online data base. While they corrected this in the text for the painting and the biographical information presented about Beauford in French, I was disappointed to note that they neglected to correct it in the English translation.
The information presented about Beauford himself is scant and not quite accurate (he began his New York career by painting dancers and society women at Billy Pierce's Dancing School, not by painting jazz musicians). I had hoped for a more detailed description of the painting as well.
All that aside, the work is magnificent - it is well worth a trip to the museum to see it! The exposition is on display through January 26, 2015.
Centre Georges Pompidou
19 Rue Beaubourg
75004 Paris
Telephone: 01 44 78 12 33
Metro: Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, and Châtelet
Open every day except Tuesdays and May 1.
Hours: 11am-10pm. No tickets sold after 8pm.
Happy Holidays from Les Amis de Beauford Delaney!
In celebration of the holiday season, I'm pleased to bring you a Christmas carol by one of Beauford's favorite singers - Ella Fitzgerald:
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Ella Fitzgerald
(1968) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Click on the link above the image and enjoy.
Merry Christmas!
(1968) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Merry Christmas!
The Baldwin-Delaney Legacy
The following is a reprint of the article entitled "Our Inheritance and Our Hope," written by Justin Torres and published in The Advocate. I reproduce it here with the permission of The Advocate in honor of Beauford's deep and enduring friendship with Baldwin and in acknowledgment of Beauford's struggle with his sexuality and the violence that he suffered because of it.
Dark Rapture
(1941) Oil on board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
When James Baldwin was 16 years old, he sat nude for the queer Harlem Renaissance painter Beauford Delaney, who was then in his 40s. The two were never lovers, but formed a lifelong, familial mentorship; Baldwin spoke of Delaney as his spiritual father. Delaney painted many images of Baldwin over the years. The painting I’m referring to, Dark Rapture, shows Baldwin in bruised colors, but in harmony with his environment, welcome in the world Delaney has painted. I came across this image only recently, a reproduction in the fantastic new survey book Art & Queer Culture (Phaidon). I held the book open to Baldwin’s image, arrested by the ecstatic beauty but also disturbed. I stared and stared. Looking at Baldwin like this, young and vulnerable, some vague dread tugged at me but I couldn’t place its source. Like most lovers of American literature, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Baldwin: about his rage, his eloquence, his activism; about Baldwin in Harlem and Baldwin in Paris. I’ve read his novels and essays and watched him dazzle in television interviews. Yet when I’ve thought about Baldwin as a child and as a very young man, I’ve thought mostly about his domineering father, about his preaching in and then fleeing the church, about just how unwelcoming, how hostile, the world was to this beautiful brown gay boy. Now, looking at this image, I remembered that Baldwin as a young man was also cherished. In certain pockets of New York, by certain right-minded folks, and most certainly in Delaney’s studio, Baldwin was seen for all his brilliant potential.
I should have felt comforted that Baldwin had this, at least, but instead I was troubled. Why? I went to the bookshelf and flipped open The Price of the Ticket, hoping to find out what the man himself had to say about this time in his life, and right there on page 1 was Baldwin talking about Delaney. He wrote about how Delaney introduced him to a world of black intellectuals, artists, musicians, and socialists. Many of them were celebrities, like the singer Marian Anderson, but Baldwin was encouraged not to see them as celebrities but as his cultural ancestors. And Baldwin was made to understand, as well, that like all family, they had expectations for him, and to that end they would do their best to protect him. “If Beauford and Miss Anderson were part of my inheritance,” he writes, “I was part of their hope.”
Marian Anderson
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I looked again at the portrait of young Baldwin. I thought, My god, to be 16, black, and queer in 1941, and to be loved, and to feel welcome, and to understand oneself as the hope of a movement.
And then I realized the source of my dread and my trouble. Earlier that day, I had read in the paper that Islan Nettles, age 21, had died of her injuries a week after a transphobic street beating left her in a coma. I had stared and stared at the accompanying photo. The news had me heart- broken, horrified, and pissed, and worse, cynical about what would come next. Why was the world so unloving, so violently, lethally unwelcoming to our transgender youth? I knew that there would be a vigil, and I knew that eloquent, enraged, passion- ate words would be spoken, that trans women and others would stand up and say what needed to be said, but how would they be heard? And by whom?
Nettles was a black trans woman beaten to death in Harlem, and what terrified and enraged me was the thought that her race, her class, her gender identity —hell, the very neighborhood of her murder — meant that her death would not shock enough to draw the world’s attention; not only the attention of mainstream media, but perhaps not even from the gay main- stream community.
We need to be shocked. I did not know Nettles. I know only what I’ve read — that she was creative, a fashion designer — and what I’ve seen — that she was very beautiful and very young. I do not know what kind of personal mentorship she had in her life. I want to believe that at 21, black and trans in 2013, there were places she felt loved and welcome, and I want to believe that she understood herself as the hope of our movement. But I do not know, I do not know. I only know what I felt looking at her photo, and what I feel now: That despite all the strides the queer movement has made, on the whole, we still do not love and cherish transgender people enough, especially young trans women and trans men of color. We do not see them as we should, as the flowering of our movement, as our hope.
(1941) Oil on board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
When James Baldwin was 16 years old, he sat nude for the queer Harlem Renaissance painter Beauford Delaney, who was then in his 40s. The two were never lovers, but formed a lifelong, familial mentorship; Baldwin spoke of Delaney as his spiritual father. Delaney painted many images of Baldwin over the years. The painting I’m referring to, Dark Rapture, shows Baldwin in bruised colors, but in harmony with his environment, welcome in the world Delaney has painted. I came across this image only recently, a reproduction in the fantastic new survey book Art & Queer Culture (Phaidon). I held the book open to Baldwin’s image, arrested by the ecstatic beauty but also disturbed. I stared and stared. Looking at Baldwin like this, young and vulnerable, some vague dread tugged at me but I couldn’t place its source. Like most lovers of American literature, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Baldwin: about his rage, his eloquence, his activism; about Baldwin in Harlem and Baldwin in Paris. I’ve read his novels and essays and watched him dazzle in television interviews. Yet when I’ve thought about Baldwin as a child and as a very young man, I’ve thought mostly about his domineering father, about his preaching in and then fleeing the church, about just how unwelcoming, how hostile, the world was to this beautiful brown gay boy. Now, looking at this image, I remembered that Baldwin as a young man was also cherished. In certain pockets of New York, by certain right-minded folks, and most certainly in Delaney’s studio, Baldwin was seen for all his brilliant potential.
I should have felt comforted that Baldwin had this, at least, but instead I was troubled. Why? I went to the bookshelf and flipped open The Price of the Ticket, hoping to find out what the man himself had to say about this time in his life, and right there on page 1 was Baldwin talking about Delaney. He wrote about how Delaney introduced him to a world of black intellectuals, artists, musicians, and socialists. Many of them were celebrities, like the singer Marian Anderson, but Baldwin was encouraged not to see them as celebrities but as his cultural ancestors. And Baldwin was made to understand, as well, that like all family, they had expectations for him, and to that end they would do their best to protect him. “If Beauford and Miss Anderson were part of my inheritance,” he writes, “I was part of their hope.”
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I looked again at the portrait of young Baldwin. I thought, My god, to be 16, black, and queer in 1941, and to be loved, and to feel welcome, and to understand oneself as the hope of a movement.
And then I realized the source of my dread and my trouble. Earlier that day, I had read in the paper that Islan Nettles, age 21, had died of her injuries a week after a transphobic street beating left her in a coma. I had stared and stared at the accompanying photo. The news had me heart- broken, horrified, and pissed, and worse, cynical about what would come next. Why was the world so unloving, so violently, lethally unwelcoming to our transgender youth? I knew that there would be a vigil, and I knew that eloquent, enraged, passion- ate words would be spoken, that trans women and others would stand up and say what needed to be said, but how would they be heard? And by whom?
Nettles was a black trans woman beaten to death in Harlem, and what terrified and enraged me was the thought that her race, her class, her gender identity —hell, the very neighborhood of her murder — meant that her death would not shock enough to draw the world’s attention; not only the attention of mainstream media, but perhaps not even from the gay main- stream community.
We need to be shocked. I did not know Nettles. I know only what I’ve read — that she was creative, a fashion designer — and what I’ve seen — that she was very beautiful and very young. I do not know what kind of personal mentorship she had in her life. I want to believe that at 21, black and trans in 2013, there were places she felt loved and welcome, and I want to believe that she understood herself as the hope of our movement. But I do not know, I do not know. I only know what I felt looking at her photo, and what I feel now: That despite all the strides the queer movement has made, on the whole, we still do not love and cherish transgender people enough, especially young trans women and trans men of color. We do not see them as we should, as the flowering of our movement, as our hope.
Beauford at the American Cultural Center
David Leeming’s Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney mentions that Beauford's works were shown several times at the American Cultural Center on rue du Dragon. The center was founded by Beauford's dear friend, Darthea Speyer, and was subsequently taken over by another friend, Hélène Baltrusaitis.
Leeming describes one of these occasions as follows:
Needless to say, I was thrilled when Robert Tricoire, a French journalist who worked for the Cultural Attaché of the American Embassy during the 1960s, shared the images below (reproduced with permission from the U.S. Embassy in Paris) with me:
We Love Beauford
(Beauford is front and center)
Beauford and Darthea Speyer
Beauford in the audience at the American Cultural Center
Tricoire was introduced to Beauford by their mutual friend, American artist James LeGros. Beauford and Tricoire became friends and would visit each other at their respective homes in Montparnasse.
The event at the American Cultural Center took place in 1969.
Leeming describes one of these occasions as follows:
On March 21, under the direction of Hélène Baltrusaitis, the American Cultural Center on the rue du Dragon, with the help of several friends, sponsored an evening dedicated to the painter. There was a retrospective exposition of his works borrowed from various galleries and collectors and a huge colorful sign painted by Joe Downing that said "We love Beauford." There was food and champagne and a jazz band...
Needless to say, I was thrilled when Robert Tricoire, a French journalist who worked for the Cultural Attaché of the American Embassy during the 1960s, shared the images below (reproduced with permission from the U.S. Embassy in Paris) with me:
(Beauford is front and center)
Tricoire was introduced to Beauford by their mutual friend, American artist James LeGros. Beauford and Tricoire became friends and would visit each other at their respective homes in Montparnasse.
The event at the American Cultural Center took place in 1969.
Happy Thanksgiving Day Weekend!
The Les Amis blog is taking Thanksgiving Day weekend off.
Still Life with Pears
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I hope that you are enjoying this special time with your family and that you are looking forward to a happy holiday season!
(1946) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I hope that you are enjoying this special time with your family and that you are looking forward to a happy holiday season!
Beauford's Agonie Solaire as Book Cover
I recently met Robert Tricoire, a retired French journalist who worked for the Cultural Service of the U.S. Embassy in Paris for several years. He knew Beauford well and was kind enough to invite me to his home to share some of his remembrances of Beauford with me.
Robert supervised a project that involved the translation of the works of American writers into French and the selection of paintings by American artists to serve as cover art for these books. One such work was Henry Pelling's Le Mouvement Ouvrier aux Etats-Unis, published in French in 1965. Beauford's abstract painting Agonie Solaire was selected as the cover for this book.
Book cover – Le Mouvement Ouvrier aux Etats-Unis
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Discover Paris!
The page after the title page reads:
The original edition of this work was published in the collection The Chicago History of American Civilization
directed by Daniel J. Boorstin, under the title:
American Labor.
Translation: Marie-Jean Béraud-Villars
The cover reproduces a work by the American painter
Beauford Delaney: Agonie Solaire (1963)
Verso of title page
© Discover Paris!
The rear of the book indicated the location of the printing company and the name of the publisher:
End Print
29 September 1965
on the presses of Gerard and Co. at Verviers (Belgium)
for Paris editor Pierre Seghers.
Editor no.: 1447
Last page of the book
© Discover Paris!
Robert supervised a project that involved the translation of the works of American writers into French and the selection of paintings by American artists to serve as cover art for these books. One such work was Henry Pelling's Le Mouvement Ouvrier aux Etats-Unis, published in French in 1965. Beauford's abstract painting Agonie Solaire was selected as the cover for this book.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Discover Paris!
The page after the title page reads:
directed by Daniel J. Boorstin, under the title:
American Labor.
Translation: Marie-Jean Béraud-Villars
The cover reproduces a work by the American painter
Beauford Delaney: Agonie Solaire (1963)
© Discover Paris!
The rear of the book indicated the location of the printing company and the name of the publisher:
29 September 1965
on the presses of Gerard and Co. at Verviers (Belgium)
for Paris editor Pierre Seghers.
Editor no.: 1447
© Discover Paris!
The Baldwin~Delaney Institute Moves into High Gear
I am pleased to bring you an update on the activities of the Baldwin~Delaney Institute in Chicago:
Entrance to The Baldwin~Delaney Institute
Photo courtesy of E. L. Kornegay, Jr., founder
The Baldwin~Delaney Institute (BDI) has moved into high gear with its vision!
BDI is experiencing success in developing key partnerships related to its programming and current research focus on the study of rage as an essential component for eradicating violence. Dr. E. L. Kornegay, Jr.says:
BDI is embarking on the development of a seven-phase plan of action that encompasses research & development based on the study of rage; pilot projects for high school students, families (intergenerational), and graduate students; partnering with organizations in need of programming resources and innovation related to the eradication of violence through the KAPacity! Network; publications; and public policy analyses. All this is being done with a goal of empowering the next generation of scholars, ministers, leaders and everyday folk (young and mature) to live out the brightest vision they have of their lives without the fear of violence hindering them.
Dr. E. L. Kornegay, Jr.
Photo courtesy of E. L. Kornegay, Jr.
Dr. Kornegay is the CEO/Founder of the Baldwin~Delaney Institute for Academic Enrichment and Faith Flourishing and Adjunct Professor of Theology and Ethics at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is also the author of A Queering of Black Theology: James Baldwin’s Blues Project and Gospel Prose.
*Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney by David Leeming
Photo courtesy of E. L. Kornegay, Jr., founder
The Baldwin~Delaney Institute (BDI) has moved into high gear with its vision!
BDI is experiencing success in developing key partnerships related to its programming and current research focus on the study of rage as an essential component for eradicating violence. Dr. E. L. Kornegay, Jr.says:
The study of Beauford Delaney is important in the study of rage from the perspective of grappling with it. Beauford was a victim of violence during his New York years, when he was “beaten up several times by white Village toughs simply because he was ‘an artistic Negro’ – that is, gay and black…”* This was maddening for him, figuratively and literally, and also a source of great art. I intend to use the legacy of Beauford to find a way to eradicate violence.
BDI is embarking on the development of a seven-phase plan of action that encompasses research & development based on the study of rage; pilot projects for high school students, families (intergenerational), and graduate students; partnering with organizations in need of programming resources and innovation related to the eradication of violence through the KAPacity! Network; publications; and public policy analyses. All this is being done with a goal of empowering the next generation of scholars, ministers, leaders and everyday folk (young and mature) to live out the brightest vision they have of their lives without the fear of violence hindering them.
Photo courtesy of E. L. Kornegay, Jr.
Dr. Kornegay is the CEO/Founder of the Baldwin~Delaney Institute for Academic Enrichment and Faith Flourishing and Adjunct Professor of Theology and Ethics at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is also the author of A Queering of Black Theology: James Baldwin’s Blues Project and Gospel Prose.
*Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney by David Leeming
Man in African Dress
I was privileged to view an original Beauford Delaney painting in a private collection in Paris.
Man in African Dress
(1972) Watercolor on Paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work was shown at the Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow exposition mounted by the High Museum in Atlanta, so it was a rare treat for me to be able to view it "up close and personally."
Identification sticker (rear)
© Discover Paris!
The current owner was kind enough allow me to photograph the painting, removing the frame to avoid reflections.
Beauford's signature (lower left)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Dedication (lower right)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Man in African Dress (detail)
(1972) Watercolor on Paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
He has only vague recollections of Beauford as being one among many visitors at his home when he was a child.
(1972) Watercolor on Paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work was shown at the Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow exposition mounted by the High Museum in Atlanta, so it was a rare treat for me to be able to view it "up close and personally."
© Discover Paris!
The current owner was kind enough allow me to photograph the painting, removing the frame to avoid reflections.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1972) Watercolor on Paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
He has only vague recollections of Beauford as being one among many visitors at his home when he was a child.
Beauford's Paris: Montparnasse Cemetery
On October 31, 2013, I happened to stroll past the Montparnasse Cemetery. James Baldwin wanted this to be Beauford's final resting place, but neither he nor Beauford's family had the money to pay for a plot.
Montparnasse Cemetery - Main Entrance
© Discover Paris!
The sidewalk in front of the main entrance was dotted with pots of flowers waiting to be sold to those visiting grave sites on the eve of All Saints' Day.
Pots of flowers
© Discover Paris!
When I saw these beautiful yellow mums, I thought of Beauford and all the brilliant paintings that he created in the color yellow.
Yellow chrysanthemums
© Discover Paris!
I also thought about two artists whose acquaintance he had made and who are buried in the cemetery: Man Ray and Constantin Brâncuși.
Grave site of Man and Juliet Ray
© Discover Paris!
Grave site of Constantin Brâncuși
Screen shot from video
According to biographer David A. Leeming, Beauford had seen Brâncuși's sculpture The Kiss here and admired it greatly. The Kiss can be found in at the grave of a friend of Brâncuși in another area of the cemetery.
Le Baiser
Constantin Brâncuși
© Discover Paris!
A smaller Brâncuși sculpture by the same name is also located there.
Le Baiser
Constantin Brâncuși
© Discover Paris!
Beauford's studio at the Hôtel des Ecoles on rue Delambre and the studio on rue Vercingétorix were both within easy walking distance of this prestigious cemetery. It would have been a natural place for him to be interred.
© Discover Paris!
The sidewalk in front of the main entrance was dotted with pots of flowers waiting to be sold to those visiting grave sites on the eve of All Saints' Day.
© Discover Paris!
When I saw these beautiful yellow mums, I thought of Beauford and all the brilliant paintings that he created in the color yellow.
© Discover Paris!
I also thought about two artists whose acquaintance he had made and who are buried in the cemetery: Man Ray and Constantin Brâncuși.
© Discover Paris!
Screen shot from video
According to biographer David A. Leeming, Beauford had seen Brâncuși's sculpture The Kiss here and admired it greatly. The Kiss can be found in at the grave of a friend of Brâncuși in another area of the cemetery.
Constantin Brâncuși
© Discover Paris!
A smaller Brâncuși sculpture by the same name is also located there.
Constantin Brâncuși
© Discover Paris!
Beauford's studio at the Hôtel des Ecoles on rue Delambre and the studio on rue Vercingétorix were both within easy walking distance of this prestigious cemetery. It would have been a natural place for him to be interred.
Homage to Beauford: Douglas Petrovic
From time to time, I "Google" Beauford. When I do so, I inevitably stumble across something intriguing that I never knew about him. Such was the case a few days ago, when I found the logo below on a Web site called Artistes sans Frontières (Artists without Borders):
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
The site also posts a tribute to Beauford that is particularly touching. It was written by Douglas Petrovic, an artist who met Beauford at the Café Sélect in Paris. To further investigate, I sent a message to the Web site and received a response from Helga Strobl, one of the artists whose work is presented there. I learned that Douglas Petrovic was her husband and that he died two years ago.
Helga told me that Douglas shared with her stories of his early years in Paris when he met Beauford:
Douglas founded Artistes sans Frontières in 2001 and the homage to Beauford page was one of the first that they created.
Here is my translation of Douglas' homage:
Untitled
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Untitled
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The site also posts a tribute to Beauford that is particularly touching. It was written by Douglas Petrovic, an artist who met Beauford at the Café Sélect in Paris. To further investigate, I sent a message to the Web site and received a response from Helga Strobl, one of the artists whose work is presented there. I learned that Douglas Petrovic was her husband and that he died two years ago.
Helga told me that Douglas shared with her stories of his early years in Paris when he met Beauford:
He had come to Paris in 68 at [the age of] 17...all alone, wanting to be an artist, studying art and surviving as he could. He met Beauford in the circles of artists and philosophers in the Montparnasse area and they became friends, Beauford a bit of a mentor, helping him sometimes. Whenever he spoke of him, it was fond memories he told me and he cherished the paintings of Beauford [that] he had - I still do.
Douglas founded Artistes sans Frontières in 2001 and the homage to Beauford page was one of the first that they created.
Here is my translation of Douglas' homage:
It was in November or December 1968 that I met Beauford Delaney at the café Sélect in Montparnasse in Paris while I took a little nap the morning after an all-nighter. He was sitting next to me and he woke me up because I was snoring too loudly.
As I had just arrived in France, I spoke only rudimentary French and we immediately began a conversation in English. After a few glasses of red wine, I learned from him that he arrived in France during the 1950s for a tour of Europe that he never did - rather, he stayed in Paris. I also learned that he was a painter and had done portraits of many celebrities like Louis Armstrong, Henry Miller, James Baldwin... Because I was only 17 years old, I knew these celebrities by name or by reading and that impressed me enormously.
Because I didn't have a lot of money, he invited me to have lunch with him at the restaurant Milles Colonnes, where they had low-cost meals. (It still exists but it has become a chic restaurant.) It was a place frequented by all the painters, writers, philosophers and Beauford knew almost all of them. This was how I entered into the artistic and intellectual world of 1968 Montparnasse.
As I lived in a tiny room, we saw each other almost every week for many years to have a few glasses of wine, which he loved to do in my company. He brought me to his studio at rue Vercingétorix, near the Gare Montparnasse. I remember well when I went there the first time that even though it was not very big, it was fairly high like an artist's studio and it was full of plants, almost like a jungle. The light entered by the glass roof and was filtered by the plants. When I asked him why the plants were so large, he told me that he had received some of them when they were tiny and he had only watered them from time to time - they grew by themselves.
Today I can say that this was a reflection of his huge heart and his tolerant and generous soul.
He showed me all his paintings. His color abstracts were the most fascinating to me. The portraits were done in a very naive style and were too "kind" for my taste. He could never imagine that someone could act in bad faith. He was oblivious to all the negative characteristics of people and of humanity in general. He was the opposite of Francis Bacon with regard to this aspect of figurative painting.
During the summer of '71, I lived in an apartment on the 7th floor on boulevard du Montparnasse with a balcony that extended the entire length of the apartment. After an evening of jazz at the American Center, boulevard Raspail, I invited Beauford and several musicians to have a drink at my place. At around 6:30 AM, the musicians and Beauford decided to wake Paris up with a jazz concert. The balcony was long but not wide and they lined up, a trumpetist, a cornet player, Beauford in the middle, a guitarist, and a drummer who played the iron railing of the balcony with [pieces of] wood. That was the first time that I heard Beauford sing with a voice so sweet and admirable that you could only imagine it coming from children singing in Baptist choirs in New Orleans. All the windows of the neighboring buildings opened and everybody applauded despite having been awakened too early. The concert lasted a half-hour or more.
We became true friends despite the difference in our ages - he could have been my grandfather. Despite my travels around the world we always found each other again until he was hospitalized in 1975. Today I regret not having visited him during those last years that he spent at Sainte Anne's Hospital in Paris.
For my first marriage, he offered me the two paintings that I present here and that I have kept for 34 years.
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It is because of him that I began painting and went to the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He was my first, and therefore my most important, art critic.
Douglas de Petrovic
Where to Find Beauford's Art: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
A new exposition is being co-organized by the Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Michigan and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. It's called Point of View: African American Art from the Elliot and Kimberly Perry Collection and it will be shown from January 26, 2014 through April 13, 2014. Works by Beauford and his brother Joseph will be displayed as part of the Masterworks collection at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Contemporary works will be displayed at the Flint Institute of Arts.
The image below represents the painting by Beauford that will be shown:
Untitled
(1964) oil on canvas
25 x 21 inches
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image courtesy of Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
From the Flint Arts Organization Web site:
Ashley Phifer, Assistant Curator at the Flint Institute of Arts, has informed Les Amis that the museums in Flint and in Detroit are only an hour apart and both are cultural centers in their respective cities. Through this collaboration, they hope to foster an even larger sense of community. One can easily visit both museums in one day and experience the true impact of the collection. Both museums are excited about the story that these works tell and the experiences that the artists and the collectors have infused into them.
The catalog for the exposition includes two essays: one by Erica Moiah James, Assistant Professor, Yale University on the contemporary works in the Perry collection (Flint), and the other by Jacqueline Francis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California on the Masterworks in the collection (Detroit). It will be available when the exhibition opens in January.
For more information, contact Ashley Phifer at .
The image below represents the painting by Beauford that will be shown:
(1964) oil on canvas
25 x 21 inches
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image courtesy of Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
From the Flint Arts Organization Web site:
Regarded as one of the most important collections of contemporary art in the country, the Elliot Perry Collection of African American Art represents over a decade of collecting art. The former NBA player started collecting, in 1996, such artists as John Biggers, Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, Beauford Delaney, Elizabeth Catlett, and Eldzier Cortor. In 2005, he shifted his focus to emerging, mid-career artists and has since added artists such as Kara Walker, Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley, Leslie Hewitt, Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon, Rashid Johnson, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to his collection.
Ashley Phifer, Assistant Curator at the Flint Institute of Arts, has informed Les Amis that the museums in Flint and in Detroit are only an hour apart and both are cultural centers in their respective cities. Through this collaboration, they hope to foster an even larger sense of community. One can easily visit both museums in one day and experience the true impact of the collection. Both museums are excited about the story that these works tell and the experiences that the artists and the collectors have infused into them.
The catalog for the exposition includes two essays: one by Erica Moiah James, Assistant Professor, Yale University on the contemporary works in the Perry collection (Flint), and the other by Jacqueline Francis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California on the Masterworks in the collection (Detroit). It will be available when the exhibition opens in January.
For more information, contact Ashley Phifer at .
Christie's Paris Sells Beauford Delaney Abstract at Auction
Christie's Paris placed Beauford's abstract painting Untitled, 1970 up for auction at its Rendez-Vous / Intérieurs Contemporains sale on October 9th.
Untitled, 1970 Oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm.
© Christie's Images, 2013 © Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Painted at the artist’s studio : 53 rue Vercingétorix, Paris 14ème
Signed, dated, and situated in blue ink ‘Beauford Delaney 1970 Paris’ (lower middle)
Signed and dated in red paint ‘Beauford Delaney 1970’ (lower right)
This auction featured works of Impressionist and modern art, contemporary art, 20th-century decorative arts & design, and photography. Beauford's work shared the auction block with œuvre by renowned artists such as Picasso, Braque, and Dalí.
Sylvain Briet - an expert on Beauford’s art who has been called upon by Christie's in Paris and London to authenticate works for sale - provided Les Amis with information about Untitled in a previous blog post:
Where to Find Beauford's Art: Christie's Paris October 2013 Rendez-Vous / Intérieurs Contemporains Auction
The estimated sale price for the painting (Lot 146) was 4000€ to 6000€. It sold for 5000€ ($6784).
© Christie's Images, 2013
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Signed, dated, and situated in blue ink ‘Beauford Delaney 1970 Paris’ (lower middle)
Signed and dated in red paint ‘Beauford Delaney 1970’ (lower right)
This auction featured works of Impressionist and modern art, contemporary art, 20th-century decorative arts & design, and photography. Beauford's work shared the auction block with œuvre by renowned artists such as Picasso, Braque, and Dalí.
Sylvain Briet - an expert on Beauford’s art who has been called upon by Christie's in Paris and London to authenticate works for sale - provided Les Amis with information about Untitled in a previous blog post:
Where to Find Beauford's Art: Christie's Paris October 2013 Rendez-Vous / Intérieurs Contemporains Auction
The estimated sale price for the painting (Lot 146) was 4000€ to 6000€. It sold for 5000€ ($6784).
Beauford's "Embrun" Sells at Swann Auction Galleries African-American Fine Art Auction
Per last week's posting, Swann Auction Galleries placed three paintings by Beauford up for auction at its October 2013 auction: Point of Departure: Postwar African-American Fine Art.
Embrun, the most dramatically colored of the works, sold for $12,500 (including buyer's premium*).
Embrun
(1963) Watercolor on wove paper
641x501 mm; 25 1/4x19 3/4 inches
Signed and dated "July 19, 1963" in ink, lower right
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This painting was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, with the label on the frame back.
The other two paintings remain unsold.
Swann Auction Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
Telephone: 212-254-4710
*At auction, there are two prices--the hammer price, or the price at which the item sells during the auction, and the price with the buyer's premium. All auction houses have a buyer's premium that the buyer pays to the auction house on top of the hammer price. Swann's premium is 20%. Swann Auction Galleries now reports the "hammer price" and the price that include the buyer's premium in its online catalog.
Embrun, the most dramatically colored of the works, sold for $12,500 (including buyer's premium*).
(1963) Watercolor on wove paper
641x501 mm; 25 1/4x19 3/4 inches
Signed and dated "July 19, 1963" in ink, lower right
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This painting was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, with the label on the frame back.
The other two paintings remain unsold.
Swann Auction Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
Telephone: 212-254-4710
*At auction, there are two prices--the hammer price, or the price at which the item sells during the auction, and the price with the buyer's premium. All auction houses have a buyer's premium that the buyer pays to the auction house on top of the hammer price. Swann's premium is 20%. Swann Auction Galleries now reports the "hammer price" and the price that include the buyer's premium in its online catalog.