Two Beauford Delaney works are being put up for auction during Black Art Auction's Fall Auction on September 14, 2024 in St. Louis, MO.
Composition (1961) is a painting from the original du Closel collection of Beauford's work.
(1961) Oil on canvas
10-5/8 x 5-1/4 inches
Signed on stretcher verso
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
There is no indication as to when in 1961 Beauford might have painted Composition. That year was both productive and traumatic for him.
In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David Leeming talks of group shows in London and Paris and letters that Beauford wrote to friends indicating his troubled state of mind during the first part of the year. He then writes extensively about Beauford's July trip to Greece and his two suicide attempts in that country, followed by the love and care friends extended to him once he returned to Paris in late August.
At the end of this section of the book, readers learn that "Beauford's sixtieth birthday on December 30, 1961 was spent a long way from home in a quiet room with no friends and, under doctor's orders, no possibility of communicating with them."
Untitled is a gouache on paper dated March 1962.
(1961) Gouache on paper (J-Annonay watermark)
29-1/4 x 20-3/4 inches
Signed and dated, March 1962
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
By this time, Beauford had moved to the rue Vercingétorix studio that was organized for him by Mme du Closel.
Leeming writes that "Being back in Montparnasse suited Beauford," and describes Beauford's pleasure at being able to meet friends on the street while walking around the neighborhood. He says that Beauford's health improved, which contributed to his gradual return to consuming alcohol. This, in turn, negated the effects of his medication.
Despite the warning he received from his psychiatrist, Beauford continued to drink during the spring of 1962 and relapsed into a psychotic state in early May.
The estimated sale price of Composition is $15,000 - $25,000.
The estimated sale price of Untitled is $10,000 - $20,000.
For information about the Fall Auction, click HERE.
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