On April 4, 2024, Swann Auction Galleries auctioned a Beauford Delaney abstract that was shown at the itinerant Minneapolis Institute of Arts exhibition entitled Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris.
Untitled
(circa 1956) Gouache, watercolor and charcoal on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It was most likely created during Beauford's first year at his Clamart studio.
The composition of this work reminds me of a much later abstract, which was done in different colors and which Swann successfully auctioned in October 2017.
Untitled (Abstract Composition)
(1965) Watercolor on wove paper
Signed, dated and inscribed "avec amour" in ink
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
For me, both works evoke James Baldwin's quote about a window at the studio:
There was a window in Beauford's house in Clamart before which we often sat—late at night, early in the morning, at noon. This window looked out on a garden; or rather, it would have looked out on a garden if it had not been for the leaves and branches of a large tree which pressed directly against the window.The estimated sale price of the c. 1956 gouache was $30,000 - $40,000.
Everything one saw from this window, then, was filtered through these leaves...
It sold for $32,500, including a 25% buyer's premium.
1 comment:
I found a painting that possibly has been painted by Beaufort Delaney. The view from his window is not filtered through leaves but through the frame of the window in his studio in Paris. It is signed Beaufort Delaney. I am wondering, whether he changed the d into t, when he was in France. Do you have any idea?
P.S.: A painting showing La Gare de Saint Lazare that was sold at Dorotheum in Vienna also showed this signature with t in the end.
Hoping to hear from you and best wishes
Gretel Schwörer-Kohl
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