Swann Auction Galleries is holding an African American Art sale on March 31, 2022.
Among the 241 lots available for purchase are two Beauford Delaney works.
(c. 1958-59) Oil on paper mounted on linen canvas
1346x965 mm; 53x38 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1956) Watercolor on cream wove paper
450x335 mm; 17 1/2x13 1/4 inches
Signed and dated in ink, lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Both works were created during Beauford's Clamart years, which were as personally tumultuous for him as they were professionally productive.
Swann describes the untitled oil on paper mounted on canvas as Beauford's "largest work on paper to come to auction." It is tempting to speculate that this work may have been among the six large abstract canvases that biographer David Leeming says Beauford sent to a group show in Leverkusen, Germany in the fall of 1958.
Leeming writes that during this year, Beauford "was changing directions slightly, attempting to solve a new problem, which involved the use of color to convey his own inner life.... He seemed now to be moving toward a more expressionist use of painting to represent the inner turmoil itself."
Beauford painted the 1956 watercolor during his first year in Clamart. This work shown at the Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in Paris in 2016. When I look at it, I am reminded of Leeming's observation that Beauford "pursued what he saw as a therapeutic reading of the 'wisdom literature' of the Far East," including works by Lao Tsu and various Buddhist writings.
Beauford created several watercolors during his 1956 summer vacation in Ibiza and Majorca with Larry Calcagno, James Baldwin, and other friends.
The estimated sale price for Untitled (Composition in Yellow, Orange and Red) is $40,000 - $60,000.
The estimated sale price for Untitled (watercolor) is $8,000 - $12,000.
For information about the auction, click HERE.
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