Where to Find Beauford’s Art: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts

In Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson’s chapter on Beauford in A History of African-American Artists – From 1792 to the Present, the authors state that “Beauford Delaney has no long list of museum credits, prizes, or awards.” While Beauford may not have won many prizes, he certainly has numerous museum credits to his name. Many date after the publication of Bearden and Henderson’s book; all deserve to be brought to light. This is what I will attempt to do in the next several postings on this blog.

Let’s begin with a work that belongs to the Musée cantonal des Beaux Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mémoire (Memory)
Beauford Delaney
(ca. 1964) Oil on canvas, 192 x 129.5 cm
Lausanne, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts
© Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne
Photo: J.-C. Ducret

Monsieur René Berger, director of the museum from 1962-1981, learned of Beauford’s work during an exposition organized by the museum in 1963. The “1er Salon international de galeries-pilotes” (1st International “Pioneer Galleries” Salon) was held from June 21 – September 22, 1963, where Beauford’s Composition (1958) was presented by the Paul Facchetti Gallery. Berger selected the Facchetti Gallery and three other galleries from New York, Milan, and Paris for this first of three expositions that he organized to showcase galleries with a spirit of openness and discovery regarding art and artists.

Berger subsequently visited Beauford at his studio on rue Vercingétorix.

Mémoire was acquired by the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in 1964 (Inv. 1964-011). According to Beauford’s biographer,
David A. Leeming, the sale was arranged by Beauford’s dear friend Ahmed Bioud. The painting is currently archived at the museum.

Beauford at the Centre Pompidou

I recently discovered that the Centre Pompidou is in possession of one of Beauford's paintings:

Untitled
Beauford Delaney
(1957) Oil on canvas, 1.62 m x 1.14 m
(C) Collection Centre Pompidou, Dist. RMN / Philippe Migeat

This is a phenomenal work; when I first saw the image of it, I was dazzled! I wanted to go immediately to the Pompidou Center to see it, but unfortunately, I learned that the painting is not currently being displayed.

The painting was donated sous reserve d'usufruit (under usufruct) to the museum in 1994 by M. and Mme du Closel, who were devoted patrons of Beauford for much of his life in Paris. "Usufruct" means that the museum has the legal right to use and derive profit or benefit from the painting, as long as it is not damaged. Ownership is retained by the du Closels until their death.

September - A Milestone Month for Beauford and Les Amis

A year has already passed since I proudly announced on this blog that Les Amis de Beauford Delaney had been successful at placing a tombstone at Beauford's previously unmarked grave! The date was September 2, 2010. View the blog posting here:

http://lesamisdebeauforddelaney.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

September 2 is also Beauford's presumed arrival date in France, given that he sailed on the SS Liberté on August 28, 1953 and that this ocean liner generally made the transatlantic voyage in five days.

Beauford on the deck of the SS Liberté
Photo from David Leeming’s Amazing Grace

I plan to continue posting about Beauford here for the next several weeks as I share information that I am uncovering about Beauford's art. I have invited a few people to provide guest postings on this topic, and am encouraging them to keep their commitments to submit their articles. So stay tuned!

I would really appreciate your feedback on the blog, and strongly encourage you to leave your comments in the space below. I also hope that you will share this blog with friends by clicking on one of the social media buttons below. Thanks very much!

Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson on Beauford

Romare Bearden, an African-American artist and writer, co-authored a book called A History of African-American Artists – from 1792 to the Present with Anglo-American journalist Harry Henderson. The book contains a brief chapter (seven pages) devoted to Beauford.

The chapter is primarily biographical, but there are also several scholarly descriptions of Beauford’s works. Bearden and Henderson include a frank criticism of Henry Miller’s essay “The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney,” which they describe as a patronizing article that gives a false picture of Beauford as “a mindless, visionary artist.”

There are interesting tidbits of information about Beauford in this chapter and scattered throughout the book, such as the fact that Beauford’s parents named him after the town of Beaufort, South Carolina, from which they migrated during the Civil War. In the six-page chapter on Beauford’s brother Joseph, we learn that some 300 Americans attended Beauford’s funeral service at the American Church in Paris and that the pastor presiding over that service was from the brothers’ home state of Tennessee.

One of the color plates in the book displays Beauford’s portrait of James Baldwin entitled The Sage Black, and cites it as belonging to Mrs. James Jones of Sagaponack, N. Y. at the time the book was published. A black and white photo of Beauford’s 1962 self-portrait (below) is also cited as belonging to Mrs. Jones, who is undoubtedly the wife of writer James Jones, a great friend of Beauford during his Paris years.

Beauford’s 1962 self-portrait as shown on the invitation card of the
1992 Darthea Speyer exposition of Beauford’s works
Card courtesy of the Darthea Speyer Gallery

But my greatest discovery in perusing this book is a photo of a young Beauford looking over the shoulder of Palmer Hayden as Hayden paints at a 1930s outdoor art show in Washington Square in New York City.

Palmer C. Hayden and Beauford Delaney at Washington Square, NYC (1930s)

Photo from the National Archives, Harmon Collection

It is rare to find photos of the young Beauford!