Beauford's Pastel Portrait of a Man Sold by Case Antiques

A couple of weeks ago, I announced that Beauford's Portrait of a Man would be auctioned by Case Antiques on January 28-29, 2023: 

Pastel Portrait of a Man to Be Auctioned by Case Antiques

Portrait of a Man
Pastel on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Case Antiques

The auction produced a fantastic result — the work sold for $48,000, including buyer's premium (hammer price: $40,000), which far exceeded the estimated sales price of $10,000 - $12,000.

Sarah Campbell Drury, Vice President of Fine and Decorative Arts at Case Antiques, said the following about the sale:

"As you know, Delaney is one of the few African American Abstract Expressionists to hail from the South, and interest in his work has been steadily rising in recent years. We believe this is a record price for a Delaney portrait on paper. The buyer was a private collector bidding in the room." 

The Knoxville News Sentinel covered the auction with what might be described as exuberance. Journalist Devarrick Turner published an article on January 27 entitled "Place your bid! Here’s how you can own a Beauford Delaney original portrait," providing information about the work, instructions on how and where to bid, background information on Beauford and the future Delaney Museum at Beck, and images of additional Beauford Delaney works.

Turner followed up on the sale by publishing an article entitled "Beauford Delaney's 'Portrait of a Man' Shatters Auction Sale Price Expectations."

Knoxville's local ABC news affiliate, WATE, also published an in-depth article prior to the sale and updated its story with the auction result.