Beauford's Studio - Scenes from "Meeting the Man"

I was thrilled to learn that the recently restored short documentary called "Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris" contains footage shot inside Beauford's rue Vercingétorix studio.

As the camera pans around the small room, you see Baldwin, Beauford, Baldwin's brother David, and several young people sitting or lounging on what appears to be a bed.

The chair that Baldwin sits in is draped in white cloth, which is characteristic of Beauford's habit of covering surfaces in his living space with white to increase the light available for painting.

The walls are covered with Beauford's paintings.

An additional work, which leans against a wall to Baldwin's left, presents two figurative beings, one of which has a luminous eye that reminds me of the eye in the image of the painting shown below.

The Eye
(1965) Oil on canvas
Private Collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

View two <2-minute clips from the 27-minute documentary at the links below.

  Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1:32 minutes)

Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1:48 minutes)

Lives in Art: Discussions on Beauford and Joseph Delaney

As part of the current The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art exhibition at the UT Downtown Gallery in Knoxville, TN, the gallery recently hosted a virtual discussion during which three scholars discussed Beauford and Joseph Delaney's lives and work.

Screenshot of the UT Downtown Gallery discussion
Top row: Jared Sprecher (L) and Mary Campbell (R)
Bottom: Fred Moffatt

UT Associate Professor Mary Campbell discusses Beauford, Professor Emeritus Fred Moffatt discusses Joseph, and Professor Jared Sprecher discusses both brothers.  

Campbell gives a fascinating presentation about Beauford, including a detailed discussion of the derivation of the name of Beauford's first portrait of James Baldwin - Dark Rapture.

 

Dark Rapture
(1941) Oil on masonite
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Watch the entire discussion here: https://vimeo.com/513051130

Beauford's Black Mentor

If you know Beauford's life story, chances are great that you've heard about Lloyd Branson, the white Confederate apologist who put aside his prejudices to give a teenaged Beauford art lessons and encourage him to undertake formal study in Boston.

You may not have heard of another man - a black man - who also significantly influenced young Beauford's life.

His name was Charles Cansler.

Charles W. Cansler in 1930
Fair use claim

BlackPast.org reports that Charles Warner Cansler (1871-1953) was a railway mail clerk, lawyer, educator, and noted mathematician, who spent most of his life working to better the lives of African Americans in Eastern Tennessee by way of education. He began teaching at Austin High School, the city's only high school for black students, in 1900, and became principal there in 1911.

Austin High School moved to a new location and was re-baptised Knoxville Colored High School in 1916. Cansler was principal there as well.

Beauford entered high school at the age of fourteen and was a pupil during Cansler's tenure as principal. Biographer David Leeming indicates that Cansler would invite Beauford to his home at that young age.

Cansler was accustomed to welcoming black celebrities such as classical singer Roland Hayes and writer/civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson into his home, and he would provide Beauford with letters of introduction to prominent members of Boston society when Beauford moved there in 1923. 

Beauford went on to meet Hayes and Johnson in Boston. These and other acquaintances made because of Cansler's introductions (and those provided by members of Beauford's church) influenced Beauford's sociopolitical awareness and fed his love of and appreciation for classical music.

Beauford Showing in Two Southern "Villes"

Two southern cities are hosting exhibitions of Beauford's work this year.

In the aftermath of its solo exhibition entitled Beauford Delaney: Transcending Race and Time, the University of Tennessee (UT) Downtown Gallery is showing Beauford's work alongside that of his brother Joseph in the exhibition entitled The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art.  It will be the first time the two artists’ works are shown together in their hometown.

All of Beauford's works are on loan from his estate, while works by Joseph are from the permanent collection of the Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture. The show opened with a reception on Friday, February 5, as a part of Knoxville’s First Friday Art Walk.

Joseph Delaney (left) and Beauford Delaney (right)
Image from "Visit Knoxville" Website

On February 15 at 7:30 PM, UTK professor Dr. Mary Campbell, professor emeritus Dr. Fred Moffatt, and professor of painting Jered Sprecher will come together for a panel discussion on the lives and art of the Delaney brothers. Register for the event HERE.

In anticipation of this scholarly exchange, Campbell said, “As the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the work of Beauford and Joseph Delaney, this show provides an invaluable opportunity to examine the connections and dissimilarities between the brothers’ art.” 

The Delaney Brothers: Lives in Art will run through Saturday, February 27.

UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
Telephone: (865) 673-0802
Hours: Wednesday through Friday - 11 AM to 6 PM, Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM

This spring, the Asheville Art Museum (AAM) will welcome Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom.  

This exhibition originated at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) and will be on display in Asheville, North Carolina from April 2 through June 21, 2021.  It further explores the relationship between Beauford and James Baldwin that KMA's 2020 exhibition, Through the Unusual Door, exquisitely probed.

Portrait of James Baldwin
(1944) Pastel on paper
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The following description of the show comes from the February 2, 2021 article published by ArtFixDaily:

"Metamorphosis into Freedom includes more than 40 works by the painter that depict Baldwin, were inspired by or dedicated to Baldwin, illustrate key turning points in Delaney’s development as described in Baldwin’s writings, or document key places and events where their ongoing dialogue unfolded. The exhibition focuses special attention to a chapter in Delaney’s studio practice in which he intensified experiments with abstraction after moving to the Paris suburb of Clamart in late 1955." 

AAM has scheduled two events in conjunction with the exhibition: a discussion of the Through the Unusual Door catalog with UTK professor Dr. Mary Campbell, and a discussion with Stephen Wicks, KMA’s Barbara W. & Bernard E. Bernstein Curator and organizing curator of Metamorphosis into Freedom.  Both will be held in April 2021.  For more information, click HERE.

Asheville Art Museum
2 South Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801
Telephone: (828) 253-3227
Hours: Open daily 11 AM –6 PM; late-night Thursdays until 9 PM; closed Tuesdays.
Overall capacity is limited, and timed admission tickets are required to ensure safe attendance.
Online ticketing is strongly encouraged; limited walk-in tickets may be available.