Beauford's Paris: Rue des Anglais

I don't know if Beauford ever visited the rue des Anglais in Paris.

What I do know is that his several of his paintings "lived" there for a period of time after he was committed to Sainte-Anne's Hospital.

Rue des Anglais - corner of rue Lagrange
© Entrée to Black Paris

David Leeming wrote about this in his biography called Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney:

...Baldwin went to Paris hoping to find a way of arranging for Beauford's permanent care. His first act was to find—at his expense—a new apartment for the storage of Beauford's paintings and for the painter's use should he recover. The apartment was in the rue d'Anglais, near an apartment Baldwin hoped to rent or buy for himself.

I was inspired to write this post after a lengthy Facebook communication with author David Yeats. I posted this image of a painting by Khalif Tahir Thompson, and Yeats commented that he recognized Beauford's portrait of James Baldwin on the wall behind Thompson's brilliant portrayal of Baldwin.

Baldwin
Khalif Tahir Thompson
2020 mixed media
Image from FB - Fair use claim

Portrait of James Baldwin
(1971) Oil on canvas
Bequest of James Baldwin
Image courtesy of Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Yeats told me that he mentions Beauford in his novel, The Opal Causeway, in a scene where two young boys are talking about art in a library and one of them says he thinks he recognizes a Beauford Delaney painting.

Yeats lived at 12, rue des Anglais in April 1975, which was about the time Beauford went to Sainte-Anne's. He knew Baldwin and Baldwin's dear friend, Bernard Hassell. He mentioned that Hassell lived on rue des Anglais and that Beauford's paintings were stored in a flat in the same building. He said the door of that flat had a huge seal on it.

While he couldn't remember the exact address of the building, Yeats described it as being "on the left coming from the direction of bd. Saint Germain." He thought the building might have been at Number 8.

I decided to go to the rue des Anglais to photograph the buildings as they look today.

10-12, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - view from near rue Lagrange
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - restaurant
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

6, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

4, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

2 bis, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

2, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

I have asked the Beauford Delaney estate whether it knows the exact address of the storage flat, and they have initiated a search of the Beauford Delaney Papers at UTKnoxville to find this information.

I will update this post once the search is completed.