Les Amis de Beauford Delaney
A blog that describes the efforts of a small group of individuals to preserve the French gravesite and the memory of painter Beauford Delaney.
Beauford Delaney - 1953 portrait by Carl Van Vechten
Beauford Delaney (1901 - 1979) was a consummate artist and a warmhearted man.
He was a great teacher and a great listener.
He was psychologically troubled, yet a profound inspiration to many.
His life and his talent were gifts to the world.
When Art Speaks to Art
Ekphrastic Poetry and Music at UT Downtown Gallery
For Beauford, art was never a solitary endeavor. The rhythm of jazz, the cadence of blues, and the elegance of classical music all fed the brilliance of his canvases.
And his dear friend James Baldwin waxed poetic when describing Beauford’s work.
It is in this exact spirit of creative dialogue that the UT Downtown Gallery in Knoxville, TN is hosting a special upcoming event: an afternoon of poetry and music directly inspired by the visual art in its current exhibition of Beauford’s work, entitled Degrees of Separation.
If you’ve never encountered the term, ekphrastic poetry is a beautiful, centuries-old form of writing where a poet uses vivid descriptions to respond to, interpret, or expand upon a work of visual art. Think of it as a bridge between the brushstroke and the written word, allowing us to see a painting through another artist’s eyes and soul.
The poetry performance that centers Beauford’s work will be the second annual event held at the Gallery. The performance debuted last year when Knoxville Poet Laurate Rhea Carmon (aka RheaSunshine) and University of Tennessee (UT) Knoxville Professor Natalie Graham collaborated on a successful inaugural event.
Both poets will recite works at this year’s performance, which will be held on Saturday, July 25 from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM.
They will be joined by UT Knoxville’s Corey Hodge, Arinze Akpa, and Chiagoziem Jideofor.
Music will be provided by Cal State Fullerton lecturer Tula B. Strong and Black Banjo Reclamation Project founder and executive director Hannah Mayree.
Knoxvillians and visitors have Dr. Graham to thank for the above lineup.
The gallery is located at 106 S. Gay Street, next door to the Arts and Cultural Alliance in the Emporium Building.
All exhibitions and events organized at the gallery are free and open to the public.
Teens of Color Abroad Discover Beauford
Teens of Color Abroad (TOCA) is a U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to offering students of color immersive global language learning and cultural exchange opportunities. Through four distinct programs, they are changing the world one travel experience at a time.
Student wearing a TOCA t-shirt in Aix-en-Provence
© Entrée to Black Paris
The Wells International Foundation (WIF) and TOCA collaborated for the first time this summer through WIF’s Entrée to Black Paris Cultural Awareness Program. Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) presented a creative writing workshop for ten students from TOCA’s two-week high school study abroad program, using Beauford Delaney’s life and artwork as their creative anchor.
And WIF is providing a dedicated space for the students’ writing and artwork on The Beauford Delaney Project’s digital hub.
TOCA students participated in a program entitled “Painting in Provence: A Seminar in Vision” that is offered by the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Entrance to the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing
© Entrée to Black Paris
Plaque for Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing
© Entrée to Black Paris
Prior to their arrival in Aix, ETBP provided students with an orientation exercise that gave an overview of Beauford’s life story and introduced them to his work. The students responded to questions about three selected paintings and works on paper to prepare them for the creative writing they were to undertake during their time abroad.
The day before the workshop, Leo Marchutz Board President and Director of Artistic Studies Alan Roberts taught the students a lesson on color theory during which he talked about Beauford.
Color Theory session with Director of Artistic Studies Alan Roberts
Image courtesy of Teens of Color Abroad (TOCA)
Display of several Beauford Delaney works
© Entrée to Black Paris
Dr. Monique Y. Wells delivered the “Writing from Art” workshop the following day. She discussed the orientation exercise with the students and gave a brief presentation that
described why she is so passionate about Beauford,
demonstrated the evolution of Beauford’s artistic practice, and
introduced the four works of art that were to serve as the inspiration for their creative writing.
Each student selected one of the four artworks to spark their creativity. Once their pieces were written, everyone took turns presenting their work to the entire group.
Alyssa Quiles on Untitled (1959)
© Entrée to Black Paris
Derek Tirado on The Eye (1965)
© Entrée to Black Paris
Annabella Hernandez Lopez on Composition 16 (1954-1956)
© Entrée to Black Paris
Saliou Diop on Untitled (Self-portrait) (1944)
© Entrée to Black Paris
Participants in the Marchutz School’s five-week “Painting in Provence: Seminar in Vision” program for adults and adults from TOCA and the Marchutz school—including Director Alan Roberts—also participated in the workshop. They were just as inspired as TOCA students and presented their writing to the group as well.
TOCA Director of Global Programs Miriam Piña on The Eye (1965)
© Entrée to Black Paris
Leo Marchutz Director Alan Roberts on The Eye (1965)
© Entrée to Black Paris
After the workshop, Dr. Wells distributed copies of the catalog from the Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition that WIF mounted in Paris in 2016. Some students were inspired to write new creative pieces about other works of art from that show.
The students are now immortalizing their words on drawing paper, paired with their own illustrations. These pieces, along with videos of the students reciting their poetry and prose, will soon be available for viewing on The Beauford Delaney Project’s digital hub.
WIF views this inspiring collection as the true kickoff to the Project’s mission: to establish a vibrant, multimedia platform for research and creative projects inspired by Beauford’s legacy.
Remembering Ella
Ella Fitzgerald died just over 30 years ago on June 15, 1996.
She was one of Beauford’s favorite performers, and he honored her with an extraordinary portrait.
Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald
(1968) Oil on canvas
Permanent collection of the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah
Gift of Dr. Walter O. and Mrs. Linda J. Evans
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Descriptions of the painting invariably include commentary on Beauford’s use of the color “yellow” to capture Fitzgerald’s essence.
Many have intrigued me.
I am sharing excerpts from a few of these below.
It would have been easy for Delaney to create a standard portrait of Lady Ella, but that would have been an incomplete rendering of the power and the light she made possible through her voice and her music …. The way in which the yellow dominates the painting, almost like the way light pushes itself into a dark room to illuminate it, is just the way Fitzgerald’s voice moves into the ears and hearts of her listeners.
I think it is this dynamism of Fitzgerald’s voice and message that Delaney wished to capture in his painting of her. His use of the color yellow is not solely about an obsession with light, but also an opportunity to look into the internal landscape of a person, and he takes full advantage of this opportunity with Ella.Sojourner Ahébee, “A New Sight: Light & the Color Yellow in Beauford Delaney’s Portraits”
********************It is often said, and is written on the SCAD Museum website entry for Delaney’s Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald, that yellow to Delaney meant “illumination and healing.” But I think there may be some difference in the yellows he uses when they run through and around a face, and when they are in one of the purely abstract paintings. When I look at the yellows in which there is a face, I often feel that I am squinting, that there are edges and injuries. It is a yellow connected to bodies, browns, roses, greens, not only to light and landscape.
Rachel Cohen, “Beauford Delaney and Ella Fitzgerald: In Yellow”
********************Ella’s portrait is one of the more abstract ones Beauford created during his career. This is not a painting where the main goal was to capture her likeness. Instead, Beauford created a visual representation of the power and light that existed as a result of her music. Only certain details of her face are visible; the rest is shrouded in clouds of yellows and oranges. Ella Fitzgerald was a force – she illuminated any room her voice was being projected in. Beauford captured the feelings of chaos and tenderness you feel simultaneously when listening to her.
Maija Brennan, Beauford Delaney: A Study in Portraiture
********************One thing I did not know about Ella Fitzgerald was that she was horribly shy and extremely meek when it came to recognizing her own talent ….
That blew me away. I look at this painting of Beauford Delaney and listen to Ella Fitzgerald with this new knowledge of her shyness and hear something very different in her music …. I have a deeper, more profound appreciation for what Delaney conveys in this portrait of her.
Colony Little, “Artist a Day Challenge No. 24: Beauford Delaney x Ella Fitzgerald”
********************He depicts the First Lady of Song not in sweaty performance … but in a state of high-priestess contemplation—”the quiet place” from which, as [Toni] Morrison has said, all art truly emerges.
Robert O’Meally, “Baldwin and Delaney Tell the Story Using Yellows and the Blues” in Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin
Christie’s Sells Beauford’s Portrait of Peter Eyre
Christie’s London offered Beauford’s portrait of Peter Eyre for sale at its Post-War to Present sale on June 25, 2026.
Portrait of a Young Man
(1960) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The estimated sale price was 60,000£ – 80,000£.
The work sold for 101,600£, including a 27% buyer’s premium.
In Les Amis’ interview with Eyre (December 2025), we learned that the painting hung in the office of gallerist Paul Facchetti during Beauford’s 1960 solo exhibition at the gallery.
We have published a couple of articles about this exhibition:
Beauford’s Solo Show at the Paul Facchetti Gallery
A Look at Two Beauford Delaney 1960 Abstracts
Beauford’s predominent use of yellow in the Eyre portrait reminds me of the closing words of Richard J. Powell’s essay entitled “The Color of Ecstasy,” which he included in the catalog for the 2002-2003 itinerant exhibition The Color Yellow:
Beauford Delaney’s artistic preoccupation with the color yellow is governed by its capacity to illumine …. Delaney sought in his work and throughout his entire life to experience that state of perfect bliss in nature and society, to reach that nearly unattainable note or apogee of emotional discernment in the arts, and to know that ecstatic feeling of an “excessive and deliberate joy” in life. Oddly enough, by placing himself and his audience in his dense and luxurious yellow zone, he realized these grand ambitions.
Christie’s to Auction Beauford’s Portrait of Peter Eyre
In December 2025, Les Amis published an extensive article about actor Peter Eyre and the portrait Beauford painted of him in 1960:
Beauford’s Portrait of Peter Eyre
Peter Eyre
(1960) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
On June 25, 2026, Christie’s is auctioning this work during its Post-War to Present sale. They have listed the title as Portrait of a Young Man.
Beauford signed the work and wrote his Clamart address on the rear of the canvas.
Rear of Peter Eyre portrait
Image courtesy of Peter Eyre
Aside from the indication that Eyer’s mother, Dorothy Pelline Eyre, acquired the painting directly from Beauford and that Peter inherited it from her (“Thence by descent to the present owner”), the Web page provides no narrative text to describe the work or any relationship between the Eyres and Beauford.
The estimated sale price is 60,000£ – 80,000£.
Christie’s notes that an Artist’s Resale Right applies to its sale.
Click HERE to view their Web page for this work.
Beauford Delaney: Degrees of Separation
From June 5 through August 8, 2026, the University of Tennessee (UT) Downtown Gallery is showing Beauford Delaney: Degrees of Separation—an exhibition that revisits Beauford’s work and worlds through the lens of the relationships he forged from his hometown of Knoxville to Paris, the last place he called home.
Curated by Derek Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator of the Beauford Delaney estate, and Mike Berry, Curator at the UT Downtown Gallery, the show explores “the deeply reciprocal influence the artist had on those he encountered throughout his travels across the domestic and international stage.”
Entrance to Beauford Delaney: Degrees of Separation
Image courtesy of the Estate of Beauford Delaney
CLAMART ‘61
Private Collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The exhibition opened on June 5, 2026 at 6:30 PM with a First Friday event called Gallery Talk. Attendees listened to remarks made by curators Spratley and Berry as well as Dr. Mary Campbell, Associate Professor of Art History at UT Knoxville and Stephen Wicks, Barbara W. & Bernard E. Bernstein Curator at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
Opening reception for Beauford Delaney: Degrees of Separation
Images courtesy of the UT Downtown Gallery
Derek Spratley, Esquire
Court Appointed Administrator of the Beauford Delaney estate
Image courtesy of UT Downtown Gallery
Dr. Mary Campbell
Associate Professor of Art History at UT Knoxville
Image courtesy of UT Downtown Gallery
Portraits of three of the most important people in Beauford’s life are displayed in the exhibit:
James Baldwin,
James Baldwin, Istanbul, Turkey
(ca. 1965) Ink on paper
Private Collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Dante Pavone,
Dante Pavone
(1948) Pastel on paper
Knoxville Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
and Henry Miller.
Sketch of Henry Miller
Ink on paper
Private Collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
In addition to works by Beauford, the exhibition features works by friends and paintings and drawings from the Ewing Gallery Permanent Collection by Beauford’s brother, Joseph Delaney.
On Saturday, July 25, the gallery will host an afternoon of exphrastic poetry (poetry inspired by visual art). Curated by Dr. Natalie Graham, Inaugural Poet Laureate, Orange County, CA 2022-2024, the performance will feature readings by award-winning local and international poets.
As part of Downtown Knoxville’s First Friday Art Walk, the UT Downtown Gallery is open until 9 PM on the first Friday of each month.
UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street
Knoxville TN 37902
Telephone: 865-673-0802
HOURS
W-F: 11am – 6pm
SAT: 10am – 3pm
FIRST FRIDAY: 2pm-9pm
A New Chapter Begins
Launching The Beauford Delaney Project and Its First Creative Initiative
Portrait of Beauford Delaney
© Carl van Vechten 1953
Public domain
Today, Les Amis is pleased to report an important milestone in our efforts to honor, explore, and share the legacy of Beauford Delaney.
We are delighted to announce the launch of The Beauford Delaney Project, a new digital humanities initiative led by the Wells International Foundation (WIF), as well as the launch of the project's first official undertaking—a creative and scholarly soundscape project led by WIF's Summer 2026 intern, George Henry.
For many years, Les Amis has served as a space for sharing research, stories, discoveries, and conversations about Beauford as one of the 20th century's most remarkable artists.
The Beauford Delaney Project represents the next stage of that work—it is creating new opportunities for scholarship, education, artistic engagement, and public access centered on Beauford's life and legacy.
Rather than treating his story as something confined to museums or academic publications, the project seeks to bring Beauford's life into conversation with contemporary audiences—especially students, emerging scholars, artists, and community members. Through research, creative practice, educational programming, and international engagement, WIF is fostering new ways of understanding both his artistic achievements and the broader cultural worlds he inhabited.
The launch of the platform is only the beginning.
The First Project: Listening to Beauford's New York
We are especially pleased to introduce the first project developed under this new initiative.
This summer, George Henry, a recent Amherst College graduate whose work bridges Black Studies, technology, archival practice, and sound, will undertake an innovative exploration of Beauford's New York through audio.
George Henry
Image courtesy of George Henry
Drawing upon archival research and field recordings collected at locations associated with Beauford's life—including Harlem, Greenwich Village, and other neighborhoods where he lived and worked—Henry will create a series of immersive soundscapes designed to evoke the environments that surrounded Beauford during pivotal periods of his career.
The project asks a compelling question: What might we learn about Beauford's world by listening as closely as we look?
By combining scholarship, artistic interpretation, and contemporary audio practice, these soundscapes will offer audiences a new way to engage with Beauford's story—one that complements traditional historical research while inviting deeper sensory and emotional connection.
In many ways, the project reflects the broader vision of overall project: bringing together disciplines, perspectives, and communities to create new pathways into Beauford's life and work.
Looking Ahead
As The Beauford Delaney Project grows, we look forward to sharing new research, creative projects, educational opportunities, and collaborations inspired by Beauford's far-reaching influence.
We are grateful to everyone who has supported Les Amis over the years and invite you to explore the new platform, follow the progress of George Henry's work this summer, and join us as we continue building a space where scholarship, creativity, and community come together.
Find The Beauford Delaney Project HERE.
Beauford’s Portrait of Gaylord
The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) holds Beauford's Portrait of Gaylord in its permanent collection.
Portrait of Gaylord
(1944) Oil on canvas mounted on artist board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Central to the museum's mission are its collaborations with many of the city’s colleges and universities, serving over 35,000 students annually. It uses its art collection to support the colleges’ curricula and engage students, faculty, and staff in planning and implementing projects that benefit all audiences.
In the fall of 2021, Kristina Wilson, professor of art history at Clark University, taught a course entitled “Art, the Public, and Worcester’s Cultural Institutions,” in which students researched works in the Museum’s collection to create content for a new podcast. “WAM x University” launched in the spring of 2022 and is available for streaming on Spotify. Its success opened the door for future classes and other colleges and universities to contribute new seasons, as an ongoing project for students to present research in new forms.
For the 50th episode of the podcast, Clark University student Lee McKinnon presents an analysis of Portrait of Gaylord that portrays it as a representation of resistance and protest.
Listen to the ~16-minute episode by clicking HERE.
More on Beauford’s Still Life with Idol
Last week, Les Amis published an article about Sotheby's sale of a Beauford Delaney work entitled Still Life with Idol.
Lot 336
Still Life with Idol
signed (lower center)
oil on Masonite in artist's chosen frame
36 by 21 in.
91.4 by 53.3 cm.
Executed in 1945.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
In that post, we discussed the differences in title, media, and year of creation ascribed to the work on Sotheby's Website and in the biography entitled Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney.
Sylvain Briet worked alongside his brother, Philippe, at the Philippe Briet Gallery in New York. He graciously provided us with additional information about this painting.
He told us that the gallery sold the painting to Jean de Gunzburg and that de Gunzburg already owned it when the gallery displayed it at the Beauford Delaney: The New York Years [1929-1953] exhibition in April - May 1994. He confirmed that it is an oil on masonite.
Briet also told us that neither his brother nor Jean de Gunzburg knew of the title Still Life with Idol and that the work was listed in the exhibition as Untitled, circa 1945. He mentioned that many of the works shown during the gallery's 1994 show also hung in the Seventh Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia in 1947.
Beauford's Still Life with Idol Offered by Sotheby's
On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Sotheby's is auctioning Beauford's Still Life with Idol during its Contemporary Day Auction featuring works from the collection of Jean and Terry De Gunzburg.
Lot 336
Still Life with Idol
signed (lower center)
oil on Masonite in artist's chosen frame
36 by 21 in.
91.4 by 53.3 cm.
Executed in 1945.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
According to Sotheby’s, the present owner acquired the work from Philippe Briet Gallery, New York, in 1994. The painting appears to be the work shown second from the left in an installation photograph from the gallery’s Beauford Delaney: The New York Years [1929-1953] exhibition, which was held from April through May 1994.
Beauford Delaney: The New York Years (1994)
© Sylvain Briet
Several years ago, Sylvain Briet shared with Les Amis an invitation card and graphic image produced for the 1994 exhibition. Although the title of the work was not identified on the material provided, Les Amis later located what appears to be the same composition reproduced in the first edition of David Leeming’s biography entitled Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney (1998; Oxford University Press).
In the biography, the work is identified as Earth Mother.
Les Amis subsequently included the image in a 2017 post entitled "Beauford's Reflections on Leaving New York".
Earth Mother
(1950) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The caption accompanying the black-and-white reproduction of Earth Mother in the second edition of Amazing Grace (2024; Karma Books) lists dimensions that correspond to those given for Still Life with Idol on Sotheby’s Website.
Earth Mother as presented in
Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney (2024; Karma Books)
© Les Amis de Beauford Delaney
The Sotheby’s image differs noticeably in coloration from the earlier reproduced image.
David Leeming’s Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney identifies the work as Earth Mother (1950, oil on canvas); Sotheby’s identifies it as Still Life with Idol (1945, oil on Masonite).
The estimated sale price of Still Life with Idol is $60,000 - $80,000.
For information about the auction, click HERE.
More Beauford-Inspired Music
I am always intrigued when I learn about musical compositions inspired by Beauford's art.
A few days ago, I learned that a piece called "Brilliant Brushstrokes” (2025) by Dr. Ryan Lindveit was commissioned by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Wind Ensemble (John Zastoupil, conductor) and debuted at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX on March 27, 2025.
It was inspired by Beauford's untitled raincoat painting, which is part of the permanent collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
Gift of Jacques and Solange du Closel
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The University of Washington Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band performed this composition as the closing for its April 30, 2026 Scenes and Portraits concert at the school's Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater in Meany Hall.
"Brilliant Brushstrokes" was selected as the best composition for Category B (Wind Ensemble) of the 2026 RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Competition. It is the first movement of Lindveit's new multimovement work titled Color Theory, which was inspired by the myriad ways artists, animals, and filmmakers use color.
Dr. Lindveit is the Teaching Assistant Professor of Music Theory & Composition in the College of Music at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Listen to "Brilliant Brushstrokes" here:
Beauford and James Weldon Johnson
Growing up in Knoxville, Beauford learned about James Weldon Johnson and grew to greatly admire him.
James Weldon Johnson by Carl Van Vechten
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,
Carl Van Vechten Collection
Public domain
He heard many stories about Johnson, who used to visit the home of Beauford's high school principal, Charles Cansler.
Cansler was well connected in Boston and provided Beauford with letters of introduction to influential people in the city when he learned that Beauford planned to move there in 1923.
Three years later, Beauford had the chance to meet Johnson in that city.
The encounter took place at Boston's Old City Hall, where a performance of Johnson's poem "Creation" was staged on the evening of November 27, 1926.
Old Boston City Hall
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, MA-860
Public domain
Biographer David Leeming describes the event as follows:
"... Johnson's African-American dramatic musical version of the Creation was presented by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra to enthusiastic audiences in New York and Boston. Beauford was at a Boston performance and he introduced himself to Johnson afterward."
The New York Times published an extensive account of the performance. It reported that
"An old-time negro "folk-sermon," as embodied in James Weldon Johnson's poem "The Creation," with music by Louis Gruenberg, will be performed by the League of Composers on the evening of Nov. 27 in Town Hall, with Serge Koussevitzky of the Boston Symphony Orchestra as conductor.
Read the full-length NYT article HERE.
Of the numerous contemporary renditions of "The Creation" available for viewing/listening online, I have selected three that I particularly enjoyed.
Find them below.
Beauford Immortalized in Sculpture in Knoxville
A full-body likeness of Beauford now graces the landscape of his hometown of Knoxville, TN.
On April 16, 2026, four new bronze sculptures honoring historic Black figures from Knoxville were unveiled at Covenant Health Park, the city's new multi-purpose sports stadium.
Beauford's was one of them.
Beauford Delaney statue
Image courtesy of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Beck Cultural Exchange Center President and City of Knoxville Historian of African American History Rev. Reneé Kesler played an integral role in the creation and placement of the works. She graciously granted Les Amis an exclusive interview to discuss the project.
Rev. Kesler explained that she commissioned these statues and seven additional ones that honor Knoxville's Negro Baseball team, the Giants, as a means of acknowledging and honoring the history of the area.
The new stadium is located a couple of miles from the park where the Giants played from 1920-1932. Situated within the Magnolia Avenue Warehouse District, just east of Knoxville's Old City, it was built on land that was formerly home to a vibrant Black community and essentially razed in the name of urban renewal.
Working with sculptor Brian Hanlon and various stakeholders over the past 5-6 years, Rev. Kesler determined who would be represented in the statues, how they would be represented, and where the finished works would be placed. She elected to have Beauford represented with a likeness of one of his more iconic portraits of his mentee, James Baldwin.
Beauford Delaney statue - detail of Baldwin portrait
Image courtesy of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
James Baldwin
(c. 1945-1950) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Though all were commissioned at the same time, the first seven sculptures were unveiled when the stadium opened last April. Last week's unveiling was timed to coincide with the opening of the Delaney Building, an exclusive, mostly residential complex.
The sculptures that commemorate Black baseball history at Covenant Health Park represent Jerry Benjamin, William M. Brooks, Claude “Steel Arm” Dickey, Forrest “One Wing” Maddox, William Nathaniel “Nat” Rogers, “Big Jim” Tugerson, and Payne Avenue Little League.
The four figures honored by the works unveiled last week are painter Ruth Cobb Brice, singer and “Queen of the Blues” Ida P. Cox, writer and poet Nikki Giovanni, and Beauford.
At the base of each statues is a QR code that allows you to learn more about the individuals represented in the works.
Rev. Kesler said that the Beck Cultural Exchange Center worked in close collaboration with Randy Boyd, the Boyd Family Foundation, Boyd Sports, and the Knoxville Smokies baseball team to move the sculpture project forward. She explained that ever since the renovation of the area began, Beck came in as a partner with the responsibility to hold onto and reclaim names and spaces to preserve its history.
(L to R) sculptor Brian Hanlon,
Rev. Reneé Kesler, Derek Spratley, court-appointed administrator
of the Beauford Delaney estate, and Jenny and Randy Boyd
with Beauford Delaney statue
Image courtesy of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Covenant Health Park serves as the home park for the Smokies as well as the city's Division III soccer team, One Knoxville SC. It opened on April 15, 2025.
The new Delaney building overlooks the stadium.
Beauford Delaney statue and entrance to the Delaney Building
Image courtesy of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Click on the links below to read previous Les Amis articles about the Delaney Building:
The Calypso
Run by Trinidad-native Connie Williams, the Calypso is described by biographer David Leeming as "a small restaurant across from the Provincetown Playhouse on MacDougal Street" in Greenwich Village.
Provincetown Playhouse, 133 MacDougal Street, Manhattan
29 December 1936
Berenice Abbott for Works Progress Administration
Image in public domain
A photograph of its façade, published by Trinidad & Tobago Newsday, shows a modest, basement-level storefront with a worn street number and tropical decor on either side of the entrance (view image HERE).
Find images of Connie Williams inside the Calypso by Berenice Abbott (circa 1948) HERE ...
... and HERE (Williams is wearing a patterned dress).
Leeming devotes a single paragraph to the restaurant (which he calls a "café) in Amazing Grace, his biography of Beauford. He devotes almost two entire pages to the establishment in James Baldwin, his biography of Baldwin.
Beauford introduced Baldwin to Williams in 1943 after Baldwin's stepfather died and Baldwin moved from Harlem to Greenwich Village. Williams hired Baldwin as a waiter, and Leeming indicates that she became a surrogate mother to him. He says that Baldwin, Beauford, and a young Black writer named Smith Oliver "held court" at the Calypso after hours.
Beauford produced at least three portraits of Baldwin during this period.
Portrait of James Baldwin
(1944) Pastel on paper
Knoxville Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Portrait of James Baldwin
(1945) Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
James Baldwin
(1945) Pastel on paper
Photo credit: Ben Conant
Courtesy of Macdowell
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
In Amazing Grace, Leeming describes Beauford's fondness for the Calypso due to the multiple races of people with various sexual proclivities who made up its clientele. He provides a "laundry list" of intellectuals and celebrities who frequented the place, including C. L. R. James, Claude McKay, Alain Locke, Malcolm X, and Henry Miller. Even Beauford's brother, Joseph, was an occasional customer, though the two did not socialize when they were both present.
Leeming also describes costume parties that Williams organized and that Beauford loved to attend. He says that Beauford often played the guitar and sang at these events.
In Baldwin: A Love Story, Nicholas Boggs states that Beauford and Williams threw Baldwin a goodbye party at the Calypso before he left for France in November 1948.
Beauford in Six Minutes or Less
Last week, I came across a well crafted, 4:19-minute video about Beauford in a recently launched series about art history. Catherine, the creator of the series, chose to feature Beauford in her first episode.
Artist Series Ep.1 - Beauford Delaney
Viewing this video inspired me to look for others that grasped the essence of Beauford's life and/or work in a relatively short period of time.
Below are links to videos that do so in six minutes or less.
Some talk about Beauford biographically and some feature specific works of art.
Beauford Delaney: The Artist's Artist
A Modern Icon: Beauford Delaney's Marian Anderson
Beauford Delaney, Can Fire in the Park, 1946
Gathering Light
The video short called BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2026! Daily Drawing Day Eight Beauford Delaney depicts an artist sketching a portrait of an older Beauford, which I believe was inspired by Errol Sawyer's 1973 photo portrait.
Beauford Delaney
Rue Guilleminot
France 1973
© Errol Sawyer
Click HERE to view it.
Swann Auction Galleries Sells Four Beauford Delaney Works
Swann Auction Galleries sold all four of the Beauford Delaney works it offered during its April 2, 2026 African American Art auction.
Two were figurative portraits and two were abstracts. All were works on paper.
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man in Suit and Tie) was valued at $7,000 - $10,000.
Lot 9
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man in Suit and Tie)
(circa 1940) Color pastels on pale gray wove paper
23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (59.7 x 47 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
It sold for $24,130.
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) was also valued at $7,000 - $10,000.
Lot 10
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)
(circa 1937-40) Color pastels on pale green wove paper
24 1/2 x 18.875 in. (62.5 x 48 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
It sold for $35,560.
The estimated sale prices for the abstract works were 3-4 times more than those assigned to the portraits.
Ibiza sold for $69,850 (estimated sale price - $30,000 - $40,000).
Lot 55
Ibiza
(1956) Watercolor on heavy wove paper
Signed, titled and dated ‘56 in ball point pen and ink, lower right
18 x 11 3/4 in. (45.7 x 29.8 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The untitled abstract sold for $45,720 (estimated sale price - $20,000 - $30,000).
Lot 63
Untitled (Abstract Composition)
Watercolor on cream laid paper, 1963
Signed, dated and inscribed "Paris" in graphite, lower right
17 1/2 x 12 in. (44.5 x 30.5 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
All sale prices include a 27% buyer's premium.
For information about the results of this auction, click HERE.
A Sleeping Beauty
David Byrne - award-winning musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker - performed his David Byrne - Who Is The Sky? concert yesterday at the Big Ears Festival in Beauford's home town of Knoxville, TN.
David Byrne - Everybody Laughs
Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Byrne is featuring Beauford in his upcoming book, Sleeping Beauties, which is all about brilliant ideas that got overlooked or forgotten but can be / are being revived.
He found Beauford’s renaissance over the last 10 years to be a "sleeping beauty," and he reached out to Les Amis to set up a fact checking call for the chapter he is writing about Beauford's rediscovery.
Byrne experienced Beauford's work for the first time when he visited the Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney exhibition at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in NYC.
The Portraits of Beauford Delaney
Catalog cover
Artwork © Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Courtesy of the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
He told me that he and his wife went to the show because it had "gotten a nice review in the Times." The magnificence of Beauford's paintings notwithstanding, they were greatly impressed with his writing, which they discovered in a display of his correspondence that had been included in the show. (One of the vitrines was filled with handwritten letters to Larry Calcagno, Al Hirshfeld, Palmer and Miriam Hayden, and other friends and acquaintances.)
Installation view 28 of Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney
(September 8–December 23, 2021) at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Artworks © Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Installation view 24 of Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney
(September 8–December 23, 2021) at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Artworks © Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Installation view 25 of Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney
(September 8–December 23, 2021) at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Artworks © Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
They subsequently saw Be Your Wonderful Self at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Byrne told me, "By then we realized - oh, he's back."
During a second call, I spoke to Byrne at length about Beauford and Sleeping Beauties. He reiterated how impressed he and his wife were by Beauford's writing, saying that many visual artists are challenged when it comes to expressing themselves in writing. He said that after visiting the exhibition at Ogden, he began seeing more references about Beauford.
I mentioned that one of the essays in the catalog for the Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition that the Wells International Foundation organized in Paris in 2016 is all about Beauford's writing and noted that this exhibition is credited by some as being the beginning of Beauford's renaissance.*
Our conversation turned to the reason Byrne is including Beauford in Sleeping Beauties. He said that after seeing Beauford's work at Ogden, he asked himself "How in the world did this go missing?" and "How did it get rediscovered?" His search for the response to that question brought him to Les Amis and to me.
Byrne talked about how the people of Knoxville had known so little about Beauford before Resonance of Form, and I told him about the "Knoxville 11," the eleven people from Knoxville who came to Paris to see the show. I also told him that the September 2016 article the NYTimes published about Beauford was a direct result of the Paris exhibition.
Sleeping Beauties is a work in progress, and Byrne said that he may reach out for additional information as he finishes up his writing.
As soon as the book is published, Les Amis will read the chapter about Beauford and post a review!
**Resonance of Form was part of a much larger, multi-layered tapestry of scholarship and advocacy that has specifically helped anchor his brilliance in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. One of the most significant contributions to 2016 catalog for the show was Levi Prombaum’s essay, "Reading Beauford Delaney’s Words and Letters: Three Thoughts." By meticulously exploring Delaney’s literacy and intellectual life, Prombaum shifted the focus away from a reductive "struggling artist" persona, reframing him instead as a master of both the brush and the pen whose prose was as "vibrating" as his abstractions.
The renewed appreciation for Delaney’s genius is the result of a massive, collective effort involving decades of work from numerous scholars and academics. The intellectual groundwork was laid by foundational figures like David Leeming, whose definitive biography remains a touchstone, and Richard J. Powell, whose rigorous art historical analysis elevated Delaney’s profile within the canon of Modernism. Deep critical analysis from scholars such as Mary Campbell, Adrienne L. Childs, and Monika Gehlawat has provided the essential lenses through which we now view Delaney’s transition from portraiture into his transcendent yellow abstractions.
The cultural and literary context of Delaney’s life has been further enriched by the insightful perspectives of Hilton Als, Rachel Cohen, and Amy Elias, who have bridged the gap between his visual output and his profound connections to the 20th-century literary world. This scholarly movement has been bolstered by the institutional stewardship of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Knoxville Museum of Art, where Stephen Wicks has been a pivotal force in celebrating Delaney’s legacy on a local level. Together, these voices have ensured that Delaney is recognized not just as a figure of the past, but as a central player in International Modernism.
Much of the specific historical detail and research that allows for such a deep understanding of Delaney’s career today is owed to the tireless, decades-long service of Michael Rosenfeld and halley k harrisburg of the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery. Their unwavering commitment to Delaney’s oeuvre and their willingness to share their extensive archives have been essential to the recovery effort. Through their work and the combined efforts of the academic community, the "vibration of color" that Delaney captured on canvas continues to resonate from the galleries of Paris to the streets of Knoxville.
Four Beauford Delaney Works to be Auctioned on April 2, 2026
On April 2, 2026, Swann Auction Galleries will offer two of Beauford's early portraits and two of his vibrant abstracts—all works on paper—for auction at its African American Art Sale.
Swann offered both portraits for purchase at its Autumn 2017 sale of African American Fine Art.
Lot 9
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man in Suit and Tie)
(circa 1940) Color pastels on pale gray wove paper
23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (59.7 x 47 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Lot 10
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)
(circa 1937-40) Color pastels on pale green wove paper
24 1/2 x 18.875 in. (62.5 x 48 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Both works are valued at $7,000 - $10,000.
Biographer David Leeming writes of Beauford having two solo exhibitions in Autumn 1938—one at the 8th Street Playhouse in NYC and one at Gallery C in Washington—where most of the works shown were portraits. I have not been able to determine whether Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) was one of them.
Regarding the abstracts to be auctioned, Ibiza is a signed and dated watercolor on heavy wove paper. It is depicted in the catalog for the Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris exhibition mounted by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2004.
Lot 55
Ibiza
(1956) Watercolor on heavy wove paper
Signed, titled and dated ‘56 in ball point pen and ink, lower right
18 x 11 3/4 in. (45.7 x 29.8 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
This work is dissimilar to others for which Beauford expressly mentioned Ibiza in the title. Read about them HERE.
The second abstract is untitled. It is a signed and dated watercolor on paper as well. Swann reports that Beauford gave it to Ruth Watt Métraux, a friend of Gloria and James Jones (who were great supporters of Beauford), and that the work was passed on to the current owner by descent.
Lot 63
Untitled (Abstract Composition)
Watercolor on cream laid paper, 1963
Signed, dated and inscribed "Paris" in graphite, lower right
17 1/2 x 12 in. (44.5 x 30.5 cm.)
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
The colors of the untitled abstract fairly glow. For me, they evoke the life and hope of spring.
The estimated sale price of Ibiza is $30,000 - $40,000.
The estimated sale price of Untitled (Abstract Composition) is $20,000 - $30,000.
For information about the sale, click HERE.
More of Beauford's Blues
I recently came across an article on color psychology that described various reactions to and interpretations of the color "blue."
It reminded me that Les Amis has published two articles about Beauford's use of this color:
And it inspired me to look for additional works that feature light blue, a color that is frequently associated with relaxation, tranquility, and peace.
Untitled
(1960) Gouache and watercolor on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Self-portrait
(Undated) Oil on board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Untitled
(1962) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY