Fraternal Light: On Painting While Black - Part 1
Dr. Arlene Keizer is Professor and Former Chairperson of the Department of Humanities and Media Studies at Pratt Institute in NYC. She is a scholar in the fields of literary and cultural studies who writes about the literature, lived experience, theory, and visual art of the African Diaspora.
Dr. Keizer graciously granted Les Amis this interview as a prelude to the release of Fraternal Light: On Painting While Black, her book of poems inspired by Beauford's life and work. In Part 1 of this blog post, she discusses how she came to know Beauford's work and why it inspires her.
Cover art by Nell Painter
Les Amis: Congratulations on winning the 2022 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize! What inspired you to apply for this award?
AK: Thanks for your congratulations, and thanks for this question. It’s very difficult to publish a first book of poetry, so most US-based poets who haven’t yet published a full collection enter contests established by independent and university presses and foundations dedicated to keeping poetry alive. I submitted the manuscript of Fraternal Light to at least 50 contests or open-reading periods before it won the Wick First Book Prize.
Les Amis: When and under what circumstances did you first learn about Beauford Delaney?
AK: I’m a literary scholar by training, so I first learned about Delaney when I began studying the life and work of James Baldwin back in the late 1980s. At that time, I thought of Delaney as a footnote in Baldwin’s narrative, so it was an enjoyable surprise when he took center stage in my imagination.
Les Amis: What is it about his life and/or work that inspires you?
AK: I am awed by Delaney’s artistic skill, generosity of spirit, and extraordinary resilience in the face of intense adversity. I feel that his life and work can teach me (and others) how to endure the kinds of difficulties that he not only survived but often transcended. He somehow pushed himself to create original, continually path-breaking art in spite of grinding poverty, anti-Black and homophobic discrimination and violence, and serious psychiatric problems. And his work is radiant with the joy of existence.
Les Amis: In the interview you gave to Speaking of Marvels, you talk about “years of examining his [Beauford’s] art and reading his letters and excerpts from his journals.” How many years have you been studying Beauford?
AK: I began doing serious research on Delaney’s life and work in 2018.
Les Amis: In reference to the above statement, describe the documents you discovered at the Beinecke Library at Yale and the Schomburg Center in NYC.
AK: To summarize a wealth of material: Most of the Delaney documents at the Schomburg and the Beinecke are letters Delaney wrote to friends and professional acquaintances. Both archives also contain some letters that Delaney received from friends and colleagues. I was surprised and delighted to find that the Schomburg also owns some Delaney drawings and paintings.
(1944) Pastel on paper
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Image courtesy of Arlene Keizer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The Beinecke purchased two drawings of Delaney by the illustrator Don Freeman, a close friend, and one of these drawings appears in Fraternal Light. The Delaney-related materials I found most moving are David Leeming’s interviews with Delaney’s friends and relatives, including Baldwin and Bernard Hassell, which are housed at the Beinecke.
Les Amis: How did these documents inform your poems?
AK: As I wrote Fraternal Light, I was interested in learning as much as possible about Delaney’s character, his interior life, and his approach to art, and his letters to friends were illuminating. It’s clear from what’s in the archives that Delaney derived emotional sustenance from writing letters and reading (and re-reading) the letters he received from friends and family.
Image courtesy of Dr. Keizer
Fraternal Light is scheduled for release on August 29, 2023. It is currently available for pre-order HERE.
Come back next week to learn about specific Beauford Delaney works that inspired Dr. Keizer's poetry.
Taking Courage from Silence
Beauford struggled mightily to maintain his mental health. Painting helped greatly, as did listening to music.
From an entry dated July 23 in one of the sketchbooks that is now part of the UTKnoxville Beauford Delaney archive (year not indicated, but we know from the comments that he was living in Paris), we also learn that Beauford was fortified by silence:
"Walked over to rue Constantinople. Read Lao Tzu for comfort this morning. Took courage from silence."
After reading this, I tried to visualize one or more Beauford Delaney works that I felt might represent or at least evoke a scenario that unfolds in silence. His work is so vibrant that I could not conjure up an image in my mind's eye, so I turned to the folders on my computer to search for one.
Here is what I found.
(1962) Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1961) Gouache on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1964) Oil on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo from Bill Hodges Gallery Web site
(1961) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Jean-Claude Killy is starkly white with blue splotches and sweeping black tracks that are meant to evoke skiing. It is easy to imagine swooshing down a track with nothing but the sound of skis moving over snow in your ears.
The blue that Beauford used for Untitled (Composition in Blue) is pale, and the broad swirls of pigment give the impression of softness. Imagine lying in bed wrapped in downy pale blue fabric on an utterly still cold winter morning, with only your head and face exposed ... no traffic, no birds calling, no wind rustling in the trees ... only silence.
Beauford used more colors in the oils shown above, but they remain quite muted overall. The center of both works exude a lightness that is almost white; focusing here encourages a sense of stillness that quiets the chatter of the mind.
What do you feel when you look at these works?
If other Beauford Delaney works make you think of silence, let me know what they are!
July is BIPOC Mental Health Month (formerly known as Minority Mental Health Month).
Beauford and Bessie
Beauford loved the blues, and he particularly loved the blues as sung by Bessie Smith.
Biographer David Leeming writes that Beauford "copied blues songs of love, ... which he would sing when he was alone at night, sometimes with Bessie Smith on the phonograph."
In perusing one of the sketchbooks that is part of the Beauford Delaney archive at UTKnoxville, I found the lyrics to which Leeming refers.
I've embedded YouTube videos of these songs below.
A Look at Two Beauford Delaney 1960 Abstracts
Another French auction house sold a Beauford Delaney abstract last week.
Thierry de Maigret offered Beauford's Sans titre ocre et jaune gouache on paper at its PHOTOGRAPHIES - TABLEAUX MODERNES - ART NOUVEAU - ART DÉCO - DESIGN sale on Friday, July 7, 2023.
(1960) Gouache, signed and dated 60 at bottom right
63 x 47,5 cm; 24.8 x 18.7 in
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estimated sale price was 6,000€ - 10,000€.
The work sold for 41,213€ (including 24% buyer's premium and 20% VAT; total of 28.8% in fees).
The swirling pattern in this work on paper reminded me of an oil painting that Beauford created in 1960, which also sold by a French auction house for a price that far exceeded the estimated value.
It was shown at Beauford's monographic exhibition at the Facchetti gallery in June-July 1960.
(circa 1960) Oil on canvas
Signed at lower right and on back of canvas
84 x 75 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Yet another June 2023 sale
On June 28, 2023, the Delon-Hoebanx auction house offered a Beauford Delaney abstract during its TABLEAUX - MOBILIER & OBJETS D'ART - MÉDAILLES - ARTS D'ASIE - ORFÈVRERIE - ARTS DU XXE SIÈCLE sale.
Gouache on paper
Signed and dated at lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
They went so far as to use an image of the work as the cover for their catalog.
The signature on this work is almost illegible. But it appears that the date is "61" and that "San" is the first word in the notation that Beauford wrote beneath his name.
Gouache on paper
Signed and dated at lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
As mentioned in last week's blog post, Beauford created several watercolors when he visited San Telmo, Mallorca with friends in 1961. The work offered by Delon-Hoebanx may well be one of them.
The visit to the seaside town of San Telmo was meant to provide Beauford with healing time after his suicide attempt earlier in the summer. For me, this blue and orange abstraction evokes the sand (orange), the sea (blue and green), and the suspension of the haze of mental confusion and stress (purple).
The estimated sale price of Abstraction bleue et orange was 20,000€ - 30,000€. It sold for 22,000€ (hammer price).
Sotheby's Sells Three Beauford Delaney Works
Beauford traveled to San Telmo in Mallorca, Spain with Charley and Gita Boggs and Joe and Bernice O'Reilly after his suicide attempt during the summer of 1961.
Biographer David A. Leeming wrote that:
"In San Telmo he did eat well and rest, and, with the help of soothing talks with Bernice and Gita especially, managed a surface calm and even began to do some watercolors."
On Wednesday, June 28, during its Modern and Contemporary Day Auction, Sotheby's London offered three gouaches on paper by Beauford for sale. The inscriptions of two them mention Mallorca and San Telmo.
Composite image of three Beauford Delaney works auctioned by Sotheby's London© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Sotheby's
66 by 50.2 cm. 26 by 19¾ in.
Signed and dated 61 San Telmo Mallorca
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Sotheby's
65.8 by 50.2 cm. 25⅞ by 19¾ in.
Signed and dated 61 Mallorca San Telmo
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Sotheby's
64.7 by 50 cm. 25½ by 19¾ in.
Signed with the artist's initials and dated 63
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Sotheby's
64.7 by 50 cm. 25½ by 19¾ in.
Signed with the artist's initials and dated 63
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Leeming devotes two pages to Beauford's activities and state of mind during 1963. While he does not refer to abstract watercolors in these pages, he indicates that the spring "brought a new burst of painting" and mentions Beauford's musing about Kandinsky's working with "mood values" of color.
Perhaps the monochrome green gouache is a reflection of this musing.
Sotheby's auctioned these three works in a single lot (Lot 240) and estimated the sale price at 50,000 - 70,000 GBP.
The works sold for 63,500 GBP, including 26% buyers premium and additional fees.
Brent Hayes Edwards Pairs Beauford's Composition 16 with Jazz Music
Several weeks ago, I posted an article that paired several of Beauford's abstracts with classical music by Tchaikovsky: Beauford and Tchaikovsky
So I was intrigued when I read that Brent Hayes Edwards, Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, was recently inspired to pair Beauford's magnificent abstract Composition 16 with a piece called "Midnight Sun" by jazz musician and composer Henry Threadgill.
(1954-1956) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Edwards and Threadgill co-authored Threadgill's autobiography, Easily Slip into Another World, which was published in May 2023. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC is featuring Edwards on its Website in an article that announces a playlist of Threadgill's music coupled with Edwards' musings about how this music intertwines with several works on display at the museum.
You can find the music on Spotify in a mixtape created by MoMA called Brent Hayes Edwards Slips into Another World.
Fair Use claim
Click HERE to listen (look for Track 2 on the playlist).
Click HERE to read the entire article on MoMA's Website.
Another June Sale
ADER Nordmann has auctioned a Beauford Delaney watercolor landscape that depicts a scene in Turkey.
Landscape, 1966
Watercolor
Signed, dated and located "Istanbul Turkey" lower right
49 x 64 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Landscape, 1966
Watercolor
Close-up of signature and date
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I've had the pleasure of publishing multiple articles about Beauford's stay in Istanbul:
Beauford and Baldwin in Istanbul
Sedat Pakay's Tribute to Beauford
as well as the sale of art that Beauford produced while there:
Istanbul Calling: A Recordbreaking Sale
This post is the second one to fall in the latter category.
ADER Nordmann's Post War and Contemporary Art - Prestige sale took place in Paris on Friday, June 16, 2023.
The estimated sale price of Landscape, 1966 was 3000€ to 5000€. It sold for 43,250€ (including 28% buyer's premium). The hammer price of 34,000€ was almost seven times more than the highest estimated sale price.
Brisk Sales in Early June
At least two sales of Beauford Delaney works took place during the first week of June.
Piasa sold six paintings and works on paper during its Modern and Contemporary Art Part II sale on June 7. Most of these were shown for the first time in our Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in February - March 2016.
Portrait de Solange du Closel was the only "strictly figurative" work in the bunch.
Portrait de Solange du Closel
Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Its estimated sale price was 60,000€ to 80,000€, and it sold for 72,800€.
Two of my favorite abstract watercolors from the show fetched handsome prices.
Untitled
Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Untitled
Gouache on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The Spirit, a small oil on canvas that was displayed in a glass table at the exhibition, sold at a price that exceeded expectations. Its estimated sale price was 20,000€ to 30,000€, and it sold for 41,600€.
The Spirit
Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
All Piasa sale prices include a 30% buyer's premium.
For more information about this sale, click HERE and type "Delaney" in the "Search Lots" space at the left of the page.
On June 8, 2023, Christie's auctioned a beautiful abstract oil by Beauford.
Sans titre
(1956-1960) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Its estimated sale price was 70,000€ to 100,000€. It sold for 80,200€, including a 26% buyer's premium.
To learn more about this sale, click HERE.
Beauford's Drip Abstractions
In scanning the Black Art Auction Website to prepare for the post that I published last week on their sale of one of Beauford's portraits of Mme du Closel, I came across the image below.
(1959) Gouache and watercolor on paper
25 x 18 inches / 63.5 x 45.7 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1958) Gouache on wove paper
603x483 mm; 23.75x19 inches
Signed, dated, and inscribed "To Lucien, on his birthday
with affection from Beauford Delaney Paris 1958."
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1970) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1961) Oil monotype on heavy wove paper
Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Black Art Auction Sells a Beauford Delaney Portrait
Black Art Auction's May Signature Auction was held on May 20, 2023.
Portrait of Mme du Closel (Lot 182) sold for $4,687.50, including 25% buyer's premium (estimated sale price was $6,000-$8,000).
(1964) Pastel on paper
12.5 x 16 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire
No 6 Portrait, JFK (Lot 145 - estimated sale price was $15,000-$25,000) went unsold.
(We obtained this information directly from the auction house on May 26, 2023; it contrasts the information displayed on its Website at the time of this writing).
(1966) Pastel
16 x 12.75 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The majority of works sold during this auction did not fetch the estimated sale price. In addition to Beauford's portrait of JFK, several items went unsold.
In the past, Black Art Auction's sales of Beauford's work have produced more positive results.
His Untitled 1961 gouache on paper sold for $100,000 during the May Fine Art Auction on May 22, 2021 (estimated sale price was $30,000-$50,000).
(1961) Gouache on paper
23 x 18 inches
signed and dated; estate stamp (1979) verso
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
His Untitled (1962-1964) gouache on paper sold for $53,125 during the Fall Fine Art Sale on November 19, 2022 (estimated sale price was $50,000-$70,000).
(1962-1964) Gouache on paper
Signed and dated "Paris, 1964"
Inscribed: "for Amy(?) Erica + Tully, Paris August 20, 1962, with fond regards"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
And his Composition, 1963 watercolor on paper sold for $27,000 during the Works on Paper, Prints + 3-D Sale on February 6, 2021.
(1963) Watercolor
Signed at bottom right, dated, and
annotated "Souvenir" at bottom left
50 x 33.5 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Sale, Sale, Sale
The results of the Christie's and Phillips' auctions are in!
Phillips sold Beauford's Untitled, 1958 at its "20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale" on May 16, 2023.
signed, dedicated and dated "Bon Noel Pour Monsieur Ballois avec amitié Dec 1961 Beauford Delaney 58" lower right
Oil on paper
24 1/4 x 19 3/4 in. (61.6 x 50.2 cm)
Painted in 1958.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estimated sale price of this work was $30,000-$50,000.
The actual sale price was $45,000 ($57,150 including a 27% buyer's premium).
Christie's sold Composition Bleu at its "A Century of Art: The Gerald Fineberg Collection" sale on May 17, 2023.
signed, inscribed and dated ‘Beauford Delaney 68 Rue Paul Couturier Clamart Siene 60’
(on the reverse);
titled and dated again ‘Composition Bleu 1960’
(on a panel affixed to the stretcher)
Oil on canvas
51 x 38 1/4 in. (129.5 x 97.1 cm.)
Painted in 1960.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estimated sale price of this work was $300,000-$500,000.
The actual sale price was $620,000 ($781,200 with 26% buyer's premium).
Today, Black Art Auction is offering two portraits by Beauford during its May Signature Auction.
(1964) Pastel on paper
12.5 x 16 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
The estimated sale price of this work is $6,000-$8,000.
The Les Amis de Beauford Delaney blog post entitled "A Boundless Love: Beauford Delaney’s Letters to Larry Calcagno" is quoted extensively in the description for No 6, Portrait, JFK.
(1966) Pastel
16 x 12.75 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estimated sale price of this work is $15,000-$25,000.
The May Signature Auction includes paintings, sculpture, works on paper and prints spanning more than 100 years of American art history. For more information, click HERE.
May Is Mental Health Awareness Month
In contemplating the observance of May as Mental Health Awareness Month, my thoughts turned to Beauford's stays at the Maison de Santé de Nogent sur Marne in the wake of his suicide attempt in Greece in August 1961.
On May 5, 1962, Beauford was re-admitted to the clinic only months after having undergone psychiatric treatment there in December 1961.
According to biographer David A. Leeming, he remained at the clinic until May 25, 1962.
(1962) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Leeming devotes two pages to Beauford's stay at the Maison de Santé and Beauford's fulfillment of his doctor's assignment to write about "his early life and his own sense of where his art came from and what it meant to him."
In reading these pages, we learn that Beauford contemplated suicide during his first few days at the clinic and that he was not allowed almost no visitors. And we learn that his friends rallied to raise the money required to pay for his stay at the clinic and his daily expenses once he returned home.
Leeming quotes extensively from Beauford's "homework" in these pages. One particularly powerful passage reads as follows:
The artist may perhaps ... never have any other satisfaction than being a willing worker hoping for revelation and time enough to release what life and experience has brought through his apprenticeship.This quote brought to mind an event held at the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee in March 2023.
Art+ Issues: Art Health & Social Justice with CHI Memorial was a free program inspired by themes found in the Metamorphosis into Freedom exhibition of Beauford's art organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art and shown at the Hunter Museum from January 27 - May 1, 2023. Focused on [LGBTQ] teen mental health, identity and reproductive health, it provided an opportunity for local Black and Latinx creatives to work with youth in schools to offer them a space for creation and truth-sharing through the creation of performances in dance, music, and poetry.
These performances were staged in the viewing space of the museum, with art by Beauford and his brother Joseph providing the ambiance.
with CHI Memorial
Chyela Rowe, CHI Memorial Hospital's Manager of Arts Therapies & Well-Being, facilitated this event. Information from local agencies offering support for youth in these areas was made available for attendees.
The young people who performed at these event were likely unaware of Beauford's reflection. But their words and movements embodied it completely.
Click HERE to see the Metamorphosis into Freedom exhibition - including video frames featuring six of Beauford's works - and watch the performances (47:18 minutes).
Phillips and Christie's to Auction Two Beauford Delaney Abstracts
Two Beauford Delaney abstracts are being auctioned this month.
Phillips is presenting Untitled, 1958 at its "20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale" on May 16, 2023.
signed, dedicated and dated "Bon Noel Pour Monsieur Ballois avec amitié Dec 1961 Beauford Delaney 58" lower right
Oil on paper
24 1/4 x 19 3/4 in. (61.6 x 50.2 cm)
Painted in 1958.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Detail of signature and dedication
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The estimated sale price of this work (Lot No. 210) is $30,000-$50,000.
On May 17, 2023, Christie's is presenting Composition Bleu at its "A Century of Art: The Gerald Fineberg Collection" sale on May 17, 2023.
signed, inscribed and dated ‘Beauford Delaney 68 Rue Paul Couturier Clamart Siene 60’
(on the reverse);
titled and dated again ‘Composition Bleu 1960’
(on a panel affixed to the stretcher)
Oil on canvas
51 x 38 1/4 in. (129.5 x 97.1 cm.)
Painted in 1960.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work was once held by Galerie Paul Facchetti in Paris. It is extremely likely that Beauford created it for the express purpose of showing it at the solo exhibition that Facchetti organized for Beauford in 1960.
The painting was acquired by the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery from a member of the Facchetti family and sold to the current owner.
The estimated sale price of this work (Lot 2 C) is $300,000-$500,000.
For more information on these sales, visit the Christie's and Phillips Websites.
Beauford's First European Road Trip
In April 1954, Beauford joined Sergei Radamsky on a road trip to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Radamsky was a opera singer and voice instructor whom Beauford had met in New York. Beauford shared his love for opera, and music was a major focus of their journey.
Biographer David A. Leeming states that Beauford wrote in his journals about hearing Madame Butterfly and Salome at the Staatsoper in Vienna and spending evenings with Radamsky's students, who "sang arias from Don Carlos and Butterfly over many glasses of new wine."
He also states that Beauford wrote to a friend about "the American music he heard on the radio everywhere—Jelly Roll Morton, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday."
Below are YouTube videos of songs from these operas and by these artists.
Enjoy!
Madame Butterfly - Maria Callas - Puccini
Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils (excerpt) - Pittsburg Opera
Don Carlo - Metropolitan Opera House
Jelly Roll Morton - "Dead Man Blues"
Benny Goodman - "Sing Sing Sing"
Ella Fitzgerald - "Cry Me a River"
Billie Holiday - "Blue Moon"
50th Anniversary of Beauford's Solo Show at Galerie Darthea Speyer
Just over 50 years ago, the Darthea Speyer Gallery opened a solo exhibition of Beauford's work. Biographer David Leeming states that in this show, "... what stood out were the portraits composed during the years since the 1964 Lambert show." He says that Beauford's purpose in painting these portraits seems to have been to "celebrate the art of painting itself."
Below are images of several of the portraits shown during the 1973 Speyer exhibition.
(1965) Oil on canvas
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(196?) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(Undated) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1964) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
(1967) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
(1972) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(c. 1968) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York , NY
Beauford and John-Franklin Koenig
John-Franklin Koenig was an American painter who served in the Second World War and moved to Paris in 1948 to study under the GI Bill. In 1950, he and Frenchman Jean-Robert Arnaud opened the Galerie Arnaud in the basement of Arnaud's bookstore at 34, rue du Four, and in 1953, the two men launched the contemporary art publication called Cimaise.
Beauford's biographer, David A. Leeming, mentions Koenig only twice in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney. He lists Koenig among the friends Beauford made in the American artist community when he moved to Paris in 1953, and he talks about a 1956 art exhibition at Galerie Arnaud where Beauford exhibited works alongside fellow abstract American artists Sam Francis, Shirley Goldfarb, Joe Downing, Shirley Jaffe, Paul Jenkins, and others.
Several years after the art exhibition, Beauford created this portrait of Koenig.
(1968) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 1968; signed again,
titled and dated again 1968 on the reverse;
titled again on the stretcher
25 1/2 by 21 1/4 in.
64.8 by 54 cm.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I have not been able to find out how Beauford and Koenig met and do not know how often they saw each other over the years.
An interesting passage in "L'anachronique du flâneur N° 12," which contains commentary on the 2016 Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition, writer Marc Albert-Levin lets us know that Beauford and Koenig lunched together in 1967:
That same year, in 1967, we had lunch with [jazz saxophonist] Marion Brown and Beauford Delaney, at John Koenig's apartment .... I would lie if I said that I remember what we talked about with Beauford that day. I just remember some harmonious time spent together by the four people present--Beauford, John, Marion and I--all happy to share a good bottle and a good meal, amid Koenig's paintings and collages, in his small attic apartment.
I imagine that Beauford must have appreciated Koenig since he took the time to create a portrait of him. The painting, which presents a good likeness of Koenig, was auctioned by Sotheby's during its March 9, 2011 Contemporary Art sale and purchased for $7,500.
Swann Auction Galleries Auctions Brilliant Blue Beauford Delaney Gouache
On April 6, 2023, Swann Auction Galleries auctioned the abstract work shown below.
(1956) Gouache on illustration board
724x540 mm; 28 1/2x21 1/4 inches
Signed and dated in ink, lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford painted this work when he lived in the Paris suburb of Clamart. Hues of blue predominate, which makes me recall a statement James Baldwin made about the window of the Clamart apartment that Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, quoted in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney:
... a kind of universe, moaning and wailing when it rained, black and bitter when it thundered, hesitant and delicate with the first light of morning, and as blue as the blues when the last light of sun departed.
Leeming described works that Beauford showed at the Galerie Arnaud and the Galerie Prisme in early 1956 as "abstractions marked by large areas of paint applied thickly in swirls and various colors--blues, pinks, softer colors than those of the Greene Street period." This work "matches" that description.
Swann's Website indicates that Beauford worked on board in the mid-1950s for only a short time and that his later gouaches were typically done on paper. The estimated sale price for this work on illustration board was $35,000 - $50,000.
The abstract sold for $60,000, including Buyer's Premium (the hammer price was $48,000).
Beauford and Tchaikovsky
In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David A. Leeming notes that Beauford wrote notes in which he compared his life to that of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky was a gay man who lived as a bachelor for much of his life and left his first and only marriage after two and a half months. Beauford wrote about Tchaikovsky's "sad experiences" and "the analogy of the sentiments and emotional need resident in my own consciousness resolving itself to accepting the inevitable responsibilities ... and the acceptance of one's destiny ..."
Beauford loved classical music and I imagine that he may have listened to recordings of Tchaikovsky compositions while penning the thoughts above. In today's blog, I'm sharing excerpts from some of Tchaikovsky's most famous works and pairing Beauford Delaney abstracts with them. Click on the links in the captions to listen to the music.
(1962) Mixed media on paper
Signed, dated, and dedicated at bottom right
74 x 53.5 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Swan Lake (Swan Theme)"
(c. 1955) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Enchanted Lake"
Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Sue Canterbury
Paired with
"Piano Concerto No. 1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 23, TH.55 - 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso"
(1963) Watercolor on thick wove paper
660 x 508 mm; 26 x 20 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Waltz of the Flowers"
Metamorphosis into Freedom at the Institut Giacometti
On 4 March 2023 I published an article about Metamorphosis into Freedom, the itinerant art exhibition organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA).
On 29 March 2023, the Institut Giacometti Ecole des Modernités is hosting the organizer of this exhibition, Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator Stephen Wicks, for a virtual presentation of the same name. Wicks will present an overview of Beauford's career and then focus on Beauford's studio practice during and after his move to France.
Blue-Light Abstraction (detail)(c. 1962) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Wicks has led KMA's curatorial department for more than twenty-five years. He manages the museum's exhibition program and oversees the development of its collections of East Tennessee-related art and international contemporary art. He was instrumental in helping the KMA build the world’s largest and most comprehensive public collection of Knoxville-born painter Beauford Delaney’s works of art.
In December 2021, I published a two-part article* in which Wicks and Professor Rachel Cohen discuss one of Beauford's portraits of James Baldwin. As part of the conversation, Wicks describes how he found a sketch of Alberto Giacometti in one of Beauford's sketchbooks and mentions that Beauford knew Giacometti. I imagine that Wicks will delve more deeply into the connection between the two men during his presentation.
The Institut Giacometti's Ecole des Modernités is an art history program created to enhance understanding of the decisive period in which Giacometti lived and worked. Invited international art historians and curators present new research that sheds new light on a period of modern art history through the original study of an artist, movement, or context. A large part of the program's focus is on non-French artists who moved to Paris to pursue their work.
The "Metamorphosis into Freedom" conference will be held on March 29 at 12:30 PM Eastern Time / 6:30 PM Paris time.
To register, click HERE.
*Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 1
Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 2