Welcome!

Welcome to the blog site for Les Amis de Beauford Delaney (English translation: Friends of Beauford Delaney)! We are a small, French non-profit organization (Association 1901), that was created in November 2009. The following are the goals of our organization:

1) Placement and maintenance of a tombstone for the grave of painter Beauford Delaney, who is buried at the Parisian Cemetery of Thiais.

2) Payment of the renewal fees for his grave.

3) Organization of commemorative or educational events in his honor.

4) Inform the press and the media of his life and accomplishments.

You may ask yourself why we have undertaken this project. The answer is simple: Beauford Delaney was an extraordinary man and an exceptional artist, and we want to do everything that we can to preserve his memory.















Photo of a photo of Beauford
© Discover Paris!

Beauford (as he preferred to be called) died intestate in Paris, France in 1979. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery outside Paris. Per French custom, fees for gravesites must be paid at regular intervals—or the remains of the deceased will be exhumed and either placed in a common grave, or cremated and scattered in a garden. Several friends of Beauford discovered that his fees (concession in French) had not been paid since 1981. We recently collected the money to settle the outstanding debt for his gravesite so that he is assured of resting in peace until 2011. We now want to place a permanent marker at his grave, as well as provide a means for continued payment of the gravesite fees and the maintenance of the marker.

For more details, please refer to the following articles:

A Final Resting Place for Beauford Delaney

Burial site of Knoxville's Beauford Delaney remains undisturbed thanks to friends, admirers

We have already obtained permission from the Paris Cemetery Service to place the monument, and we have selected a simple, yet dignified tombstone to honor Beauford’s memory. But we have no funds to cover the cost of the construction of the slab. We have therefore created Les Amis de Beauford Delaney to provide a legal means of collecting the money to proceed.

Please stay tuned for further blog entries as we keep you informed of our efforts. If you have questions, or wish to contribute, please do not hesitate to contact us at amisdebeauford@yahoo.com.