When I saw the image of the work on paper depicted below, I immediately thought of spring – the season of new beginnings, of rebirth.
For me, spring is the season of hope.
(1961) Watercolor on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The brownish vertical lines in this work remind me of tree bark and the green blotches and sweeping curvilinear strokes remind me of leaves and branches covered with the foliage of the season.
The yellow core evokes a mighty rush of sun-derived energy filling the core of this hollow tree.
But the choice of the pale greens for the background somehow mutes the power of that energy.
This leaves me with a slight feeling of melancholy.
Beauford created this work in 1961. In Amazing Grace, Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, talks about three letters that Beauford wrote during the first ten days of March that year.
In a letter to Lynn Stone, he wrote about not having found a "solution" to living in "a jungle of the world."
In a letter to his brother, Joseph, he spoke of sadness and having come through great trials and tribulations. He then indicated his belief that "God understands us all and has love for us and mercy."
In a letter to his dear friend, Larry Calcagno, he wrote:
"... movement for me is inside rather than without."
I wonder if Untitled (Yellow and Green Composition) could be an artistic representation of the solace Beauford was seeking during this difficult emotional period – a way of painting into existence what he wanted to feel inside.
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