Mike Berry and Beauford - Part 2

Mike C. Berry is Gallery Manager at the University of Tennessee (UT) Downtown Gallery and Artist/Owner of Mike C. Berry Studio in Knoxville, TN. He has developed a unique and fascinating "relationship" with Beauford through his framing of Beauford's art for UT. He graciously provided Les Amis with an interview in which he "tells all," including how Beauford's work influences his artistic practice.

Because Berry was so generous with his responses, this interview will be presented in three parts).* Find Part 2 below.

Note that all photos and content have been approved for posting by Derek Spratley, Esq., Court appointed administrator of the Beauford Delaney Estate.

Les Amis: As a painter, you bring a unique perspective to the act of framing. How has this influenced the way you frame Beauford’s work?

MCB: I try to think how to best highlight the work with a clean and simple presentation and not attempt to “jazz” it up with stylized mouldings that are unnecessary. I always think “less is more” with Beauford’s work and what will allow the work to be the main star on the stage.

Mike Berry framing a Beauford Delaney work

Les Amis: Among all the Beauford Delaney works that you’ve framed, which is your favorite?

MCB: I have two, for different reasons.

First is the Henry Miller ballpoint pen sketch piece. This piece is very intriguing to me because it’s basically a rough draft for a 1944 oil portrait. The sketch of Miller is on the back of a catalogue page with a print narrative about Miller on the opposite side. There is a photo of Mr. Miller standing beside the 1944 portrait posted on this blog (Jan 7, 2017).

As I understand it, the 1944 portrait is no longer available to the public or it has been completely lost, which leaves this blue ball point pen rough sketch of Miller the only remaining work from this series. I framed it in a way that either side (portrait side or printed side) can be viewed within the frame.

Sketch of Henry Miller

My other favorite piece is a blue abstract from Madrid 1955. I just love this piece because of the color, and the composition reminds me of my time spent in Madrid a few years ago. I felt very connected to this piece as I shared a strong sense of place to it, and I love the color blue.

Blue abstract from Madrid

Les Amis: As a cityscape artist, please comment on the similarities and differences in the way Beauford and Joseph interpret and portray cityscapes.

MCB: Their similarities are their use of pure color and simplication of form. Of course, Beauford pushes this much farther than Joseph does.

The biggest difference is I see Joseph as the reporter or illustrator of the cityscapes while I tend to view Beauford as the interpreter or the emotional translator of his subjects. Beauford’s work strikes me has highly infused with emotions (through use of color and line) to connect the viewer with their own narrative and emotional response the imagery he presents.

Les Amis: Joseph Delaney’s work inspired you early on. Has Beauford’s work begun to inspire you in some way?

MCB: Working closely with Joseph work definitely inspired me to look the cityscape as a subject matter. My piece, Gay Street Rainy Night, was greatly influenced by Joseph’s work.

Gay Street Rainy Night
Mike C. Berry

Today, I am still inspired by Joseph’s work and continue to look to the city for interesting compositions.

Currently I do find myself in the presence of a lot of Beauford’s work and it has pushed me to simplify form and push my palette towards bright saturated colors.

Recently I experimented with a composition using single color notes inspired by Beauford where I attempted to simplify a downtown scene in Knoxville.

Downtown Knoxville
Mike C. Berry

Les Amis: Do you also do framing for or have some other professional relationship with the Joseph Delaney estate?

MCB: The Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture at the University of Tennessee was bequeathed a third of Joseph’s estate as stated in his will upon his death in 1991. Because of this gift, the Ewing Gallery has a large collection of Joseph’s works which I have had the privilege of framing, cataloguing and exhibiting.

The 2004 exhibition Joseph Delaney, Life in the City was the first professional gallery exhibition I worked on when I started at the UT Downtown Gallery. It was the gallery’s inaugural exhibit. In 2018 I worked on the exhibit Face to Face – Joseph Delaney, which focused on Joseph’s many portraits, mainly those created during his years of working in Washington Square in NYC.

*Read Part 1 of the interview HERE.

Sale of Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York) Exceeds Expectations

Last week, Les Amis reported that Swann Auction Galleries would offer Beauford's Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York) for auction during its African American Art sale on October 3, 2024.

Lot 16 - Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York)
(circa 1945-46) Oil on linen canvas
457x546 mm; 18x21½ inches.
Signed and dated (indistinctly) in oil, lower right recto.
Signed (three times) and inscribed "181 Greene St" (twice)"
and "NY" in oil on the stretcher bars, verso.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The estimated sale price for this magnificent piece was $250,000 - $350,000.

It sold for $629,000, including a 20% buyer's premium (hammer price was $520,000).

For more information about Swann's October 3 African American Art Sale, click HERE.

Untitled (Greenwich Village Street) up for Auction at Swann

Swann Auction Galleries will auction a magnificent oil from Beauford's New York years during its African American Art sale on October 3, 2024.

Lot 16 - Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York)
(circa 1945-46) Oil on linen canvas
457x546 mm; 18x21½ inches.
Signed and dated (indistinctly) in oil, lower right recto.
Signed (three times) and inscribed "181 Greene St" (twice)"
and "NY" in oil on the stretcher bars, verso.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Swann lists the provenance for this piece as follows: acquired directly from the artist, Professor Kenneth Lash, California and Iowa; thence by descent, private collection, Washington (2006).

Beauford's biographer, David Leeming, indicates that Kenneth Lash made Beauford's June 1946 visit to Vinalhaven, Maine possible.

(According to Leeming, Beauford spent part of each summer between 1936 and 1953 with Dante Pavone in Vinalhaven.)

The current owner of the painting sent me some biographical information on Kenneth Lash. Reading it, I learned that Lash lived in New York City from 1938 to 1943. Frequenting jazz clubs, he learned of and attended after-hours sessions at trumpeter Frankie Newton’s Greenwich Village loft. 

Beauford and Newton were friends, and Beauford's Greenwich Village abode was a few blocks away from Newton's.

Lash served in the Navy from 1943-46. It is thought that Beauford created Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York) during this time.

There is a gap in Lash's timeline from 1955 to 1959. But a reference that Lash made to a Paris experience “some twenty years ago” in his December 1977 North American Review column entitled "Another Man's Poison: Oh Britannia! II" would seem to indicate that he was in Paris around 1957.

Lash’s wife, Jan, remembers the Delaney painting being on the wall of their home in Bolinas, California in the early-to-mid 1960s.

Even with the information provided by the current owner, we do not know exactly when Lash acquired this painting.

Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York) bears a striking resemblance to another Beauford Delaney oil entitled Street Scene.

Street Scene
(1968) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY 1968" lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

In the Les Amis blog post entitled "Beauford's Street Scenes," I commented that I believed the landscape represented the elevated train (metro) that serves the south and southwest parts of the city of Paris.

In comparing the two works, it is easy to accept Swann's statement that Beauford "revisited" the 1945-46 painting when he created Street Scene.

The estimated sale price for Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York) is $250,000 - $350,000.

For information about Swann's African American Art Sale, click HERE.

Beauford at Black Art Auction's Fall Auction - Results

Black Art Auction sold two Beauford Delaney works during its Fall Auction on September 14, 2024 in St. Louis, MO.

The estimated sale price for Composition, a painting from the original du Closel collection, was $15,000 - $25,000.

Lot 78: Composition
(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

It sold for $13,000.

Untitled, a gouache on paper dated March 1962, had an estimated sale price of $10,000 - $20,000.

Lot 101: Untitled
(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

It sold for $18,000.

Sale prices include a 25% buyer's premium.

For more information about the results of the Fall Auction, click HERE.