Beauford's Portrait of Gaylord

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) holds Beauford's Portrait of Gaylord in its permanent collection.

Portrait of Gaylord
(1944) Oil on canvas mounted on artist board
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Central to the museum's mission are its collaborations with many of the city’s colleges and universities, serving over 35,000 students annually. It uses its art collection to support the colleges’ curricula and engage students, faculty, and staff in planning and implementing projects that benefit all audiences.

In the fall of 2021, Kristina Wilson, professor of art history at Clark University, taught a course entitled “Art, the Public, and Worcester’s Cultural Institutions,” in which students researched works in the Museum’s collection to create content for a new podcast. “WAM x University” launched in the spring of 2022 and is available for streaming on Spotify. Its success opened the door for future classes and other colleges and universities to contribute new seasons, as an ongoing project for students to present research in new forms.

For the 50th episode of the podcast, Clark University student Lee McKinnon presents an analysis of Portrait of Gaylord that portrays it as a representation of resistance and protest.

Listen to the ~16-minute episode by clicking HERE.

More on Beauford's Still Life with Idol

Last week, Les Amis published an article about Sotheby's sale of a Beauford Delaney work entitled Still Life with Idol.

Lot 336
Still Life with Idol
signed (lower center)
oil on Masonite in artist's chosen frame
36 by 21 in.
91.4 by 53.3 cm.
Executed in 1945.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

In that post, we discussed the differences in title, media, and year of creation ascribed to the work on Sotheby's Website and in the biography entitled Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney.

Sylvain Briet worked alongside his brother, Philippe, at the Philippe Briet Gallery in New York.  He graciously provided us with additional information about this painting.

He told us that the gallery sold the painting to Jean de Gunzburg and that de Gunzburg already owned it when the gallery displayed it at the Beauford Delaney: The New York Years [1929-1953] exhibition in April - May 1994. He confirmed that it is an oil on masonite.

Briet also told us that neither his brother nor Jean de Gunzburg knew of the title Still Life with Idol and that the work was listed in the exhibition as Untitled, circa 1945. He mentioned that many of the works shown during the gallery's 1994 show also hung in the Seventh Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia in 1947.

Beauford's Still Life with Idol Offered by Sotheby's

Sotheby's auctioned Beauford's Still Life with Idol during its Contemporary Day Auction featuring works from the collection of Jean and Terry De Gunzburg.

Lot 336
Still Life with Idol
signed (lower center)
oil on Masonite in artist's chosen frame
36 by 21 in.
91.4 by 53.3 cm.
Executed in 1945.
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

According to Sotheby’s, the present owner acquired the work from Philippe Briet Gallery, New York, in 1994. The painting appears to be the work shown second from the left in an installation photograph from the gallery’s Beauford Delaney: The New York Years [1929-1953] exhibition, which was held from April through May 1994.

Beauford Delaney: The New York Years (1994)
© Sylvain Briet

Several years ago, Sylvain Briet shared with Les Amis an invitation card and graphic image produced for the 1994 exhibition. Although the title of the work was not identified on the material provided, Les Amis later located what appears to be the same composition reproduced in the first edition of David Leeming’s biography entitled Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney (1998; Oxford University Press).

In the biography, the work is identified as Earth Mother.

Les Amis subsequently included the image in a 2017 post entitled "Beauford's Reflections on Leaving New York".

Earth Mother
(1950) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

The caption accompanying the black-and-white reproduction of Earth Mother in the second edition of Amazing Grace (2024; Karma Books) lists dimensions that correspond to those given for Still Life with Idol on Sotheby’s Website.

Earth Mother as presented in
Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney (2024; Karma Books)
© Les Amis de Beauford Delaney

The Sotheby’s image differs noticeably in coloration from the earlier reproduced image.

David Leeming’s Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney identifies the work as Earth Mother (1950, oil on canvas); Sotheby’s identifies it as Still Life with Idol (1945, oil on Masonite).

The estimated sale price of Still Life with Idol was $60,000 - $80,000.

It sold for $76,800, including a buyer's premium of 28%.

For information about the auction, click HERE.

More Beauford-Inspired Music

I am always intrigued when I learn about musical compositions inspired by Beauford's art.

A few days ago, I learned that a piece called "Brilliant Brushstrokes” (2025) by Dr. Ryan Lindveit was commissioned by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Wind Ensemble (John Zastoupil, conductor) and debuted at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX on March 27, 2025.

It was inspired by Beauford's untitled raincoat painting, which is part of the permanent collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
Gift of Jacques and Solange du Closel
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

The University of Washington Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band performed this composition as the closing for its April 30, 2026 Scenes and Portraits concert at the school's Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater in Meany Hall.

"Brilliant Brushstrokes" was selected as the best composition for Category B (Wind Ensemble) of the 2026 RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Competition. It is the first movement of Lindveit's new multimovement work titled Color Theory, which was inspired by the myriad ways artists, animals, and filmmakers use color.

Dr. Lindveit is the Teaching Assistant Professor of Music Theory & Composition in the College of Music at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Listen to "Brilliant Brushstrokes" here: