My email inbox "lit up" earlier this week when the press got hold of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA's) announcement of its acquisition of Beauford's Negro Man [Claude McKay].
(1944) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Image: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Stephanie Barron, LACMA's Senior Curator and Department Head, Modern Art Acquisitions, wrote an eloquent piece about the purchase for the museum's newsletter. It is cited as being a gift of the 2022 Collectors Committee, with additional funds provided by the Robert H. Halff Endowment, the Modern and Contemporary Art Council, and The Buddy Taub Foundation, Jill and Dennis Roach, Directors.
Importantly, Barron mentions that LACMA is the first Los Angeles museum to acquire a Beauford Delaney work. At the upper end of the state, San Francisco MoMA acquired three of Beauford's works (two paintings and one work on paper) in 2020.
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons
By the time Beauford and McKay began to cross paths in New York, McKay was already a seasoned European traveler. He spent two years in Europe before Beauford left Knoxville for Boston and was well into his 11-year sojourn in France, Spain, and Morocco by the time Beauford arrived in New York in 1929. I have found no evidence that the two men were more than casual acquaintances, or that they ever discussed McKay's travels.
Claude McKay moved from New York to Chicago in 1944, the same year Beauford painted Negro Man. He died in Chicago in 1948.
No comments:
Post a Comment