Beauford Potpourri 4

I continue to peruse Google Alerts about Beauford to add to the information and references that illuminate the fascinating story of his life.

Below are a few links to information I have recently discovered.

Portrait of Anita Berliawsky Weinstein

Lot 328
Anita Berliawsky Weinstein
(1951) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Sotheby's sold a portrait of Anita Berliawsky Weinstein during its Contemporary Art Sale on May 16, 2025. The estimated sale price was $100,000 to $200,000.

The work sold for $127,000, including the buyer's premium of 27%.

I was intrigued by the story behind this work, having never seen an image of it before. Sotheby's reported that Weinstein was the sister of sculptress Louise Nevelson and that Nevelson helped Beauford get accepted for his fellowship at Yaddo in 1950. Neither woman is mentioned in David Leeming's biography of Beauford, Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney.

Beauford and Louise Nevelson may have met at the Art Students' League in New York, given that both studied there in the early 1930s.

Beauford Delaney at the DRAWING CENTER

As reported in a recent Les Amis blog post, Beauford's work is being featured in a solo exhibition at The Drawing Center in Manhattan.

I was thrilled to find a James Kalm "Rough Cuts" video about this show on YouTube the other day.

The first part of the video presents a show at Shrine that features art by Elise Ferguson and Dena Novak. From 14:43 minutes to the end of this ~40-minute video, Kalm presents Beauford's exhibition at the Drawing Center - complete with commentary.

Click HERE to see this magnificent exhibition.

Phillips sells Beauford Delaney abstract

Lot 122
Untitled
(c. 1972) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Phillips auctioned Untitled, c. 1972 at the morning session of its Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale on May 14, 2025. The estimated sale price of this work was $100,000 to $150,000.

It sold for $228,600, including the buyer's premium of 27%.

In Amazing Grace, David Leeming describes 1972 as a difficult year for Beauford. Bright spots included Henry Miller's birthday visit to Paris in January, a trip to Normandy with Jim and Bunny LeGros, and visits from friends Larry Calcagno and Michael Freilich during the summer.

Perhaps Beauford painted Untitled during one of these periods.

Read previously published Beauford Potpourri articles by clicking on the links below.

Beauford Potpourri 3

Beauford Potpourri 2

Beauford Potpourri

Beauford and Larry Potter

Beauford had multiple circles of friends and acquaintances in Paris.

One of them was a group of African-American artists who were a generation younger than him.

This group included Herb Gentry, Ed Clark, Harold Cousins, and Bob Blackburn.

It also included Larry Potter.

Larry Potter
Photo by Robert King
Source: Explorations in the City of Light:
African Americans in Paris, 1945-1965
Fair Use Claim

When I published the article about reviewing auction house Websites to familiarize oneself with Beauford's work, I came across the image below on Case Antiques' Website.

Portrait of a Black Man
(1963) Charcoal on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

I recalled having published an article about their sale of this work, but at the time of publication, I did not have an inkling as to who the subject might be.

It was only after seeing the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris that I thought of Larry Potter in the context of this "portrait on paper."

At the exhibition, in the room entitled "Le saut dans l'abstraction" ("The Leap into Abstraction"), Beauford's work is displayed along with that of Ed Clark, Herb Gentry, Harold Cousins, and Potter.

Untitled, 1962
Larry Potter
Oil on linen canvas
Paris Noir exhibition, 2025
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FRANCE
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The charcoal portrait of Potter that was sold by Case Antiques is clearly inspired by the photo shown above. Beauford sketched a mirror image of him, gave him a more somber expression, and dressed him differently.

But the posture is the same.

Potter first came to Paris in 1956. He returned to the States briefly before moving back to Paris in 1958. His work and Beauford's were shown in the 10 American Negro Artists exhibition at Den Frie in Copenhagen, Denmark in July 1964.

Potter died from an asthma attack in Paris in 1966, when he was only 40 years old.

Beauford was particularly saddened by his early demise, writing to his friends, Billy and Irene Rose, that he "supported it not too well."

Auction House Websites Provide a Great Look at Beauford's Work

An excellent way to familiarize yourself with Beauford's work is to look at the Websites of auction houses that sell it.

Find the Web links for three of them below.

Each link is accompanied by an image of the work that has fetched the highest price at that auction house to date.

 

CHRISTIE'S

James Baldwin
(1966) oil on canvas
39 1/2 x 29 7/8in. (100.2 x 76cm.)
Signed and dated 'Beauford Delaney 1966' (lower left)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Sale price: 1,026,000 GBP ($1,150,114), including Buyer's Premium.

 

SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES

Untitled (Village Street Scene)
(1948) Oil on canvas
737x1016 mm; 29x40 inches
Signed and dated in oil, lower left.
Image from Swann Auction Galleries Web site
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Sale price: $557,000, including Buyer's Premium.

 

CASE ANTIQUES

Lot 178
Untitled
(c. 1972) Oil on canvas
63 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Sale price: $348,000, including Buyer's Premium.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Presents Bienvenue: African American Artists in France

Life in Paris offers me the anonymity and objectivity to release long-stored memories of sorrow, and the beauty of the difficult effort to release and orchestrate in form and color a personal design. Being in France gives time for reflection. One never leaves home if one was never there.
~ Beauford Delaney, 1966*

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (MRG) is well represented at the Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950–2000 exhibition that is on view at the Centre Pompidou in Paris through June 30, 2025.

In parallel with this groundbreaking show, the gallery is presenting Bienvenue: African American Artists in France in New York through July 25, 2025.

MRG describes this exhibition as "a historical survey of seventeen Black American artists who lived and worked in France from the late nineteenth century through the present" that "offers an expanded look into the presence of Black American artists in France, many of whom were seeking respite from the systemic racism that limited their opportunities for education and the recognition of their work in the United States."

Bienvenue focuses specifically on American artists and spans nearly eight decades in its chronological scope, beginning with a 1912 painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) and ending with a 1989 sculpture by Barbara Chase-Riboud (b.1939).

Anyone who knows MRG knows of the gallery's decades-long devotion to Beauford's legacy. In addition to the work they have done to ensure the visibility of his artwork, they contributed the fundraising campaign to place a tombstone at Beauford's previously unmarked grave in 2009-2010 and have consistently supported this blog.

MRG loaned over half of the paintings by Beauford that hang in Paris Noir, and it is showing six (6) Beauford Delaney paintings in Bienvenue.

Of all the artists represented in this show, Beauford has the most works on display.

Below are images of my favorite works from Bienvenue.

Untitled
(1967) Oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches / 38.4 x 55.2 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Night Light)
(c. 1970) Oil on canvas
19 1/2 x 24 inches / 49.5 x 61 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Bienvenue: African American Artists in France features works by 17 African-American artists. Beauford knew several of them personally, including Ed Clark, Herbert Gentry, and Palmer Hayden.

To see images of the works in this show, click HERE.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
100 11th Avenue @ 19th
New York, NY 10011

Regular Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday, 10AM–6PM, or by appointment

Summer Hours
(Memorial Day–Labor Day):
Monday–Friday, 10AM–6PM, or by appointment

*Beauford Delaney quoted in John Ashbery, “American Sanctuary in Paris,” ARTnews Annual Vol. 31 (1966): 146