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Saturday, May 16, 2015

Beauford Delaney works in Philadelphia

In 2013, I wrote an article about two Beauford Delaney paintings being held by the Dolan/Maxwell gallery in Philadelphia. As I am in Philadelphia this week, I went by the gallery to see one of the works.

Untitled (Yellow series) is an oil on linen that Beauford painted in 1962.

Untitled (Yellow series)
(1962) Oil on linen
26 x 21 inches
Annotated in verso
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Discover Paris!

It is rare for me to stand before one of Beauford's paintings and I view any opportunity to cast my eyes upon his work in person to be a privilege. While it is possible to get a good sense of the colors that he used by looking at online and print images, I feel that you can only truly appreciate the texture of his work by standing before it. I attempted to capture the texture of Untitled (Yellow series) in the sharply oblique view of the painting shown below.

Untitled (Yellow series) - oblique view
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Discover Paris!

Ron Rumford, director of the gallery, removed the back panel from the painting to show me the annotation "in verso."

Untitled (Yellow series) - rear view
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Discover Paris!


The second painting that I described in the 2013 article was sold to a Philadelphia dentist. On the spur of the moment, Ron phoned the buyer to ask if the painting were hung at his nearby office. Fortunately, it was and we set out on foot for an impromptu visit.

Dr. William A. Dodd and Untitled (Grape Motif) (1946)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo © Discover Paris!

William is a former gallery owner and an avid collector. He shared information about the 1947 show of Beauford's work mounted by the now defunct Pyramid Club of Philadelphia.

Look for details in next week's blog post!

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