As the centennial of James Baldwin's birth (August 2, 1924) approaches, companies and cultural institutions that wish to honor Baldwin are publishing announcements about their products and programs.
Beauford's art, especially the many portraits he created of Baldwin, has provided fertile ground from which these organizations have gathered fruit to enhance their offerings.
In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery will host a one-room show that honors Baldwin beginning on July 12, 2024. Called This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, the museum quite naturally looked to its collection and selected Beauford's 1963 pastel-on-paper portrait of Baldwin to herald the exhibition.
(1963) Pastel on Paper
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Curator Rhea Combs consulted with Hilton Als on this exhibition. Als curated the critically acclaimed 2019 exhibition God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin at the David Zwirner Gallery in NYC; his show was the inspiration of what visitors will see at the National Portrait Gallery.
Edited for release in conjunction with the Baldwin Centennial, Als' new book of the same name features two Beauford Delaney works - Beauford's iconic portrait of Baldwin entitled Dark Rapture, and a work from Beauford's New York years entitled Rehearsal.
(1941) Oil on masonite
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
(1952) oil on canvas
36 1/8" x 30 1/8" / 91.8 x 76.5 cm
signed and dated
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Vintage Books of Penguin Random House has re-issued deluxe editions of Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and If Beale Street Could Talk. Each book features a Beauford Delaney portrait of Baldwin as cover art.
I anticipate that more such occurences will be forthcoming over the next few weeks and will report them as I learn of them.
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