Rediscovering Style through Beauford's Work

On November 22, 2021, art historian Karima Boudou presented research that explored the double-sided concept of "style as a function of meaning" and "meaning as a function of style" when the two pertain to the work of art historians and art critics. 

Funded by the Collège des Bernardins in Paris for a project called "L'Art au présent" ("Art in the Present"), Boudou examined this topic using several Beauford Delaney works as her proverbial lens.  Her paper is entitled "Redécouvrir le Style et l'Implication dans l'Œuvre de Beauford Delaney" ("Rediscovering Style and Its Implication in the Work of Beauford Delaney").

Karima Boudou presenting her research
© Les Amis de Beauford Delaney

Boudou began working with the intent to answer two questions:

What does Beauford Delaney's œuvre expect from us in 2021 from a French perspective?

and

What can we expect from his œuvre?

Some of the paintings she used to investigate these questions were Village (Saint-Paul de Vence), Portrait of Irene Rose, and Portrait of Jean Genet.

Village (Saint Paul de Vence)
(1972) Oil on canvas
Bequest of James Baldwin
Image courtesy of Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries

Portrait of Irene Rose
(1944) Oil on board
45 1/2 in x 35 in
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of ACA Galleries, New York

Jean Genet
(1972) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Boudou supported her analysis with elements drawn from the philosophy of Erwin Panofsky, the 19th-20th-century art historian known for his iconographic approach for evaluating visual art works. She created scenarios that demonstrate how the art historian's work relies on that of the art critic and vice versa, comparing them to two halves of an arc that require each other to be able to stand erect and bear weight. 

She spoke of the art historian's work as searching for "facts" and the art critic's work as making "value judgments," pointing out that both professionals rely heavily on their knowledge of previously identified works to evaluate newly discovered ones. And she contended that viewers of Beauford's work cannot truly "see" (interpret) it without knowing his story.

Regarding Beauford's œuvre, Boudou observed that Beauford may have considered the inclusion of messages in his art to be aesthetically restrictive, despite the fact that he was profoundly affected by the events of his time. She described these messages as subtle, saying that they push the viewer to reflect and look at his work more closely and attentively.

Boudou said that Beauford's œuvre proves that he constantly pushed himself to discover new ways to express himself. She described his works as technically and aesthetically excellent and says that these qualities place them in the "universal domain."

Beauford's "The Burning Bush" in "The Dirty South" Exhibition

Valerie Cassel Oliver, who currently serves as the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), has included Beauford's The Burning Bush in her exhibition entitled The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse.

The Burning Bush
(1941) Oil on paperboard
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The painting is part of the "Sinners and Saints" section of the exhibition, which "explores the belief systems that have emerged from this country's unique mixing of cultures, particularly West African, European, and Indigenous American spiritual traditions."

While working at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Oliver became intrigued by the content of Southern hip-hop (aka Dirty South) videos and conceived the exhibition as a means of examining "100 years of call and response between visual artists and musicians." Her selection of the themes presented in the exhibition - "Landscape," "Sinners and Saints," and "Black Corporality" - was inspired by content presented in these videos. She describes "Dirty South" as "something which embodies ... the contemporary expression of Southern sensibilities."

Most of the works shown in The Dirty South were created by southerners or persons who are one to two generations removed from the U.S. South. Most are contemporary pieces. Others, such as The Burning Bush, represent the work of artists of previous generations upon which the framework of contemporary art is constructed.

In her Virtual Curator's Talk, recorded on May 20, 2021, Oliver explains in detail her effort to examine the connection between sonic and visual artists in the exhibition. A number of the artists whose works appear in it were/are also "engaged in music" as singers, composers, and/or musicians. Beauford is one of these artists; he sang beautifully and as a child and a teenager, he proclaimed that he wanted to pursue music as a career.

The Dirty South originated at VMFA. It is now being show at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, where it opened on November 5 and will remain on display through February 6, 2022. From there, it will travel to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it will show from March 12 - July 25, 2022.

Beauford and Josephine Baker

I believe Beauford would be incredibly excited about the upcoming ceremony that the French government is organizing to honor Josephine Baker at the Pantheon.

Josephine Baker in 1940
Photo by Harcourt
Image in the public domain

Baker became a French citizen in 1937, when she married Jean Lion. She risked her life to serve France as a member of the French Resistance during World War II and was awarded several medals for that service. She will be the sixth woman, the first U.S.-born person, and the sixth person of African descent to be honored at the Pantheon.

According to biographer David Leeming:

Beauford admired Baker and followed her career closely. In 1968, when asked what he wanted for his birthday, he would request that he be taken to one of Baker's many farewell concerts at the Olympia in Paris. He would be as thrilled by her that night as he had been by her performance some forty years earlier*.

I am unaware of any sketches or portraits that Beauford may have done of Baker and wonder how he might have portrayed her.

*Leeming is referring to Baker's performance in the 1920s musical Shuffle Along.

X-Ray of Beauford's 1944 Self-portrait at the Art Institute of Chicago

Beauford's 1944 self-portrait is one of my all time favorites.

Self-portrait
(1944) Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
By permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Wells International Foundation intern Maija Brennan selected it as the banner image for her online exhibition of Beauford's portraiture: Beauford Delaney: A Study in Portraiture

The Art Institute of Chicago has published a Web page that describes how it x-rays works in its collection, and it too has selected the 1944 portrait for the featured image on this page. It has included a fascinating interactive image that shows the x-ray "behind" the full color image of the painting.

To see this and to read the museum's description of the x-ray, click here and scroll down the page to the section entitled "X-RAYS OF SELECTED WORKS."