A Toast to the Arts

By Sylvia L. Peters, Chairman of Gathering Light: The Delaney Project
Images courtesy of Sylvia L. Peters

Program for "A Toast to the Arts"
On Saturday, January 13, 2018, more than 150 people gathered at the Knoxville Museum of Art to celebrate the acquisition and unveiling of art by Beauford Delaney. It was a stellar affair attended by a diverse audience of citizens who contributed funds to bring home the work of this native son.

The event was the result of a partnership between The Knoxville (TN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA). The purpose of this unique relationship is to increase awareness of Beauford Delaney’s place in the international art world and to raise funds to bring a critical mass of his work home to Knoxville, TN to allow it to be placed in a Center of Excellence for the study of his art.

The Links, Incorporated is one of the oldest African American professional women’s organizations in the world. In 2016, the Knoxville (TN) Chapter became a significant partner in a unique community-wide effort to promote and honor Beauford and his brother, artist Joseph Delaney.

Members of the Knoxville, TN chapter of
The Links, Incorporated
The reception, "A Toast to the Arts," took place on the weekend that most Americans celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the minds and hearts of those who attended, this event became one to not only honor Beauford Delaney and Martin Luther King, but to also bring together people from diverse backgrounds to celebrate the goodness of the values and culture that are the hallmarks of a civil democratic society.

Table setting for "A Toast to the Arts"
The brief program included remarks by David Butler, Executive Director of the museum, and Avice Evans Reid, President of the Knoxville (TN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated,

David Butler, Executive Director at KMA

Avice Evans Reid, President of the Knoxville Links Chapter
as well as a presentation by Stephen Wicks, KMA curator, which highlighted three new Delaney acquisitions that were made possible by the KMA/Links partnership and donors who attended the event.

Curator Stephen Wicks presents the acquired works
Bass Baritone Dominick White sang a stirring rendition of Amazing Grace; and Michael Delaney, a close relative of Beauford Delaney, sang two vocals and accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. He was introduced to the audience by Derek Spratley, who is the attorney for the Delaney Estate.

Bass Baritone Dominick White

Michael Delaney
The evening was a glorious one of “Amazing Grace” in Knoxville - one that showed the promise and power of celebrating culture, the arts and diversity.

Attendees at table

Full house

Derek Spratley presents Michael Delaney
It was an evening that Beauford would have enjoyed.

Jan and Sylvia Peters

The acquisitions
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esq.,
Court Appointed Administrator

Delaney Project logo

Case Antiques Offers Beauford Abstracts and Memorabilia for Auction

On Saturday, January 27, Case Antiques in Knoxville, TN is auctioning two Beauford Delaney abstracts and a bundle of Beauford's letters and other memorabilia.

Both abstracts are works on paper:

Lot 484: Abstract on Paper No. 351
(1964) Watercolor on paper
22 1/2" x 16"
Signed and dated lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Lot 484: Abstract on Paper No. 351
Signature and date
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Lot 485: Abstract on Paper No. 313
(1962) Watercolor on paper
25 1/2" x 19 1/4 "
Signed and dated lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Lot 485: Abstract on Paper No. 313
Signature and date
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The estimated sale price for Abstract on Paper No. 351 is $5,800 - $6,200.

The estimated sale price for Abstract on Paper No. 313 is $6,400 - $7,000.

In addition to these works, Case is offering an "Archive of Beauford Delaney Letters and Related Objects" as Lot 487. It is comprised of 29 items, most of which are paintbrushes and drawing pencils.

Lot 487: Paintbrushes and pencils, French Lesson, Letters
Image from Case Antiques Web site

The archive includes three letters, all of which were written by Beauford and addressed to his brother, Samuel (Emery) Delaney. A fourth item of correspondence is a greeting card sent to Beauford's niece, Ogust Delaney Stewart, from his friends, Dolly and Al Hirschfeld.

The most unique item in the lot is an 14 1/8" H x 8 5/8" W card (unsigned) on which is drawn a pencil sketch of figures that illustrate the mathematical sum of "2+2." The title written at the top of the card is Quatrième Leçon Préliminaire, which means "Fourth Preliminary Lesson." Other notations indicate the numbers 1-12, addition and subtraction equations, and the words that indicate how to read these numbers and equations.

The estimated sale price for these letters and memorabilia is $800 - $900.

For additional information, contact Case Antiques at
.

Beauford and Charlie Parker

Beauford was passionate about jazz and considered the music to be an important art form. He taught his famous mentee, James Baldwin, that jazz was as "sacred" as gospel music.

When both men lived in Paris and the mentor-mentee relationship was reversed, Baldwin and Beauford frequented - and sometimes sang at - jazz clubs such as Inez Cavanaugh's Chez Inez.

During his New York years, Beauford made the acquaintance of many jazz musicians who became subjects for his pastel and charcoal portraiture. Much later, during his Paris years, he captured the essence of iconic jazz musicians in his inimitable, increasingly abstract style.

One of these musicians was Charlie Parker.

In his masterful portrait of Parker, Beauford portrays the saxophonist in regal attire. "Bird" holds a scepter adorned with a musical note as a feathered namesake observes from above. The brilliance of the painting lies in the way Beauford rendered Parker's skin, using colors ranging from black to white.

Charlie Parker
(1968) Oil on canvas
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester
Photograph by Joshua Nefsky; Courtesy of
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This painting is a splendid example of Beauford's use of the color "yellow." The Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester acquired it from the collection of Billy Dee Williams in 2015.

In an earlier homage to Parker, Beauford endeavored to capture the essence of the musician's melodies on canvas.

Charlie Parker Yardbird
(1958) Oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of the James F. Dicke Family
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford was always concerned with how he could best portray jazz through light and color. The rose and blue tones of Charlie Parker Yardbird seem to radiate from the center of the canvas, just as Parker's music emerged from the bell of his saxophone during his 1946 recording of Yardbird Suite.

Charlie Parker Yardbird is currently displayed at the Luce Foundation Center of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (4th Floor 44A).

Beauford's Portrait of Marian Anderson at 2018 Winter Antiques Show

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) acquired Beauford's magnificent portrait of Marian Anderson for its American Art collection in 2012.

Marian Anderson
(1965) Oil on canvas
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The museum is including the painting in a showcase of its most important and recognized pieces in a special exhibition at the Winter Antiques Show, the leading art and antiques fair in the United States.

Collecting for the Commonwealth/Preserving for the Nation: Celebrating a Century of Art Patronage, 1919-2018—Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will be on view from January 19-28, 2018 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

VMFA has included Marian Anderson in its educational resource on "African American Dreams," which it describes as follows:

This art-based adventure explores the African American experience in North America by pairing visual and written primary sources. The works of art have been chosen from the American Art collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The written selections include poems, speeches, and other historical documents. Combining images with words provides students with multiple learning pathways for explorations of art, history, and language.

For the purposes of "African American Dreams," the Anderson portrait represents the Interwar Period of the 1930s-1950s. The written selection that accompanies it is an excerpt from Martin Luther King's speech entitled "The Negro and the Constitution," which he presented as a student at Atlanta's Booker T. Washington High School in 1944.