Les Amis de Beauford Delaney is supporting the completion of

BEAUFORD DELANEY: SO SPLENDID A JOURNEY,

the first full-length documentary about Beauford.


Join us in making this video tribute to Beauford a reality!

TO MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION,

CLICK HERE.



Saturday, February 26, 2022

Lucy Blue Remembers Beauford

Lucy Blue wrote to me last December to inquire about donating to support the making of the video documentary about Beauford called So Splendid a Journey. In her message, she mentioned that she met Beauford in Paris years ago and said that he's been a part of her heart ever since. 

She also shared a photo of a drawing that she did of Beauford when she and her friend, painter Clarence Hagins, visited Paris in 1973.

Portrait of Beauford Delaney
Lucy Carty (aka Lucy Blue)
(1973) Pencil on paper
Image courtesy of Lucy Blue

Needless to say, I was excited about this communication. Here was a woman who cared enough about Beauford to want to support the documentary AND was personally acquainted with him as well as with someone who cared for Beauford during his declining years. I extended an invitation for Lucy to share her story about the encounter she described, and she graciously consented to provide the interview below.

Les Amis: Please share a little biographical information about yourself (where you’re from, what you do, where you currently live).

LB: I was born in New York City and moved to Vermont with my family when I was two years old. I grew up in Vermont, attended Vassar College in New York State, then moved to Massachusetts, where I got a job working for the Boston Mayor’s Office of Human Rights. I met artist Clarence Hagins at Boston City Hall, as he was setting up an exhibition there. I subsequently moved to Brooklyn, New York, where I lived with Clarence for a year or so. 

I worked as a United Nations staff member, launched a second career as a freelance copy editor, and served a 12-year stint as a translation project coordinator for Byron Katie International. I returned to Vermont in 2007 and retired in 2020. Since then, I have been working on a family history project. I also serve on the Board of Directors of a local food cooperative.

Les Amis: Did you / do you frequently visit Paris?

LB: I visited Paris three or four times, and it has now been many years since I’ve been there. 

The first time was in 1968 when I was in college.  I went on a two-week art tour to visit cathedrals all over northern France, including Notre Dame in Paris. I loved the French language and it was my first visit to Europe. Very exciting!

I made three other trips to France from 1972 through 1975. At least one of those trips--and probably two--were made with Clarence.

Les Amis: What brought you to Paris on the occasion when you met Beauford?

LB: Clarence adored, if not idolized, James Baldwin (or Jimmy, as Clarence called him). Beauford was a mentor to Jimmy. On our first trip to Paris together, Clarence very much wanted to meet both Beauford and Jimmy, and I tagged along. 

Les Amis: How many times did you meet Beauford?

LB: Two or three times only, as I recall. One funny thing was that Beauford had an uncanny way of showing up when you least expected it. Two instances of this are recounted in Clarence’s journal entries.

Les Amis: How did the first meeting come about?  

LB: As I mentioned, Clarence very much wanted to meet Beauford. We went together to look him up in his flat that was, I think, a 3rd floor walk-up.

Lucy Blue at rue Vercingétorix studio in 1973
Image courtesy of Lucy Blue

Les Amis: What are your memories of the visit?

LB: It was winter time, and the studio was very cold. I remember walking up the stairs and when we entered the apartment, I remember seeing Beauford sitting up in bed with a coat and hat on to keep warm. He may also have been wearing gloves. I gave him a pair of black mittens I had knitted for him.

I don’t remember many details about the first meeting, just that he was warm and welcoming to us.

Les Amis: Did you sketch Beauford during your meeting with him?

LB: I sketched him on Christmas Day 1973, while the three sat together at the Café Dôme.

Les Amis: How long did this encounter last?

LB: I’m guessing it was a good 45 minutes or so, perhaps longer, but I don’t recall exactly.

Les Amis: Who is the person in the background of the sketch?

LB: A waiter.

Les Amis: What was your first impression of Beauford?

LB: My first impression was that he was very alive and openhearted. He also had a kind of other worldly quality, hard to define, as if he were in some realm of his own. Of course, this may have been the effect of the vin rouge (red wine), or as I think about it now, a sign of his burgeoning dementia. 

Still, Beauford had a very sweet and jovial spirit. As we sat at the Dôme, I recall his warning us to “Watch out for the harpies!” (referring to women). 

  

Terrace of the Dôme Café, 1959
Photo from Cafés d’Artistes à Paris (photo credit-Archives)

Les Amis: You said that Beauford has been part of your heart ever since you met him. What did he say or do to have this effect on you?

LB: A gentle, loving kindness shone through his eyes, and he was very warm and friendly. When we met, I was struggling with some deep unresolved personal issues. Being in his presence was a kind of spiritual nourishment for me. I call it a healing, a blessing. 

I invented my own etymology of the name “Beauford”, calling him a “beautiful ford” across the river of my life. I loved Beauford as one lost at sea loves the lighthouse. He helped to keep my spirit afloat all those many years ago and I’ve never forgotten it. 

Les Amis: Did / does his artistic practice influence you?

LB: Beauford was like a light to Clarence and me and others, like a human fireplace you could snuggle up to and keep warm from the chill of life. I had some interest in drawing when I met him but was not an artist. Just witnessing Beauford there in Paris living his dream as best he could influenced me, however, and continues to influence me to this day. I don’t think one can separate Beauford, the friend, from Beauford, the artist. The two were so inextricably intertwined.

In terms of Beauford’s work, I am especially drawn to his portraits and other representational pieces, such as The Jazz Trio. Beauford’s work seems happy to me and lifts my spirits. 

Henry Miller called Beauford “the nearest to a saint that any artist can be.” I think that saintly quality shines through his work.

Come back next week to read journal entries by Clarence Hagins shared by Lucy Blue.

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Swann Auction Galleries - Fifteen Years of Beauford Delaney Sales

Long before I met Nigel Freeman, founder of Swann Auction Galleries' African American Fine Art Department, at the Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in Paris in 2016, I had been following Swann's sales of Beauford's art.

Swann has been offering Beauford's work since 2007.  It claimed the 2018 auction record for a Beauford Delaney painting with the sale of Untitled (Village Street Scene),

Untitled (Village Street Scene)
(1948) Oil on canvas
737x1016 mm; 29x40 inches
Signed and dated in oil, lower left.
Image from Swann Auction Galleries Web site
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Below are some of my favorite works that the organization has sold.

Untitled (Abstract Composition)
(1965) Watercolor on wove paper
546x457 mm; 21 1/2x18 inches.
Signed, dated and inscribed "avec amour" in ink.
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Composition in Purple, Blue and Green)
(circa late 1950s) Gouache on Schoeller Parole paper
450x300 mm; 17 3/4x11 3/4 inches
Signed in red gouache, lower right
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Abstraction in Green and Blue)
(1963) Watercolor on thick wove paper
660 x 508 mm; 26 x 20 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Abstract composition)
(1958) Oil on wove paper
750x560 mm; 29 1/2x22 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Embrun
(1963) Watercolor on wove paper
641x501 mm; 25 1/4x19 3/4 inches
Signed and dated "July 19, 1963" in ink, lower right
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Find the entire history of Beauford Delaney works that Swann has offered at auction HERE.

Saturday, February 12, 2022

"Red" Is for Passion

It is generally agreed that the color "red" symbolizes passion and energy. The Sensational Color Website indicates that it

... speeds up our heart rate, blood flow, and body temperature. Red stimulates our senses of smell and taste, making us more sensitive to our environments. Red also stimulates the adrenal gland, making us more prone to take action and giving us more energy. Red is a physical stimulant.

"Red" was one of Beauford's favorite colors.

In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David Leeming recounts a story of Beauford's mother, Delia, putting a red bedspread on his bed in 1933, when he returned home for the first time after moving to New York. Leeming says that the color excited Beauford so much that he couldn't sleep all night.

Because Valentine's Day is only two days away, I thought I'd pave the way for this celebration of love and passion with some images of Beauford Delaney works in which shades of the color "red" are prominent.

Abstraction #12
(1963) Oil on canvas
Knoxville Museum of Art
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

 Untitled
(c. 1956) Watercolor and gouache on paper
Collection of the Delaney Estate
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled
(1963) Aquarelle on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image © Discover Paris!

 Untitled
1956, Inks on paper
45 x 33.5 cm; 17.7" x 13.2"
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

 The Sage Black
(1967) Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Happy Valentine's Day from Les Amis de Beauford Delaney!

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Beauford Delaney Building to Be Constructed in Knoxville

Knoxville is truly abuzz about Beauford!

Around the same time the University of Tennessee Knoxville announced its intent to acquire the Beauford Delaney archive, faithful readers of this blog who reside in Knoxville informed me of impending construction of a multipurpose building that will be named after him. It will be part of a project to construct a new baseball stadium in East Knoxville, in an area formerly occupied by black residents and destroyed during the "Urban Renewal" projects of 1959-1974.

I contacted BarberMcMurry, the architectural firm that is undertaking the project, to ask for an exclusive interview. Heather N. Beck, Communications Manager and Senior Associate of the firm, sent me this reply in response to my questions:
From the beginning of this project — which includes the development of a multipurpose baseball and soccer stadium and several surrounding residential and multi-use buildings — the owner and project team have made a concerted effort to honor the history and legacy of the location, which, prior to urban renewal, was comprised primarily of Black neighborhoods. Part of that effort includes finding ways within the project to honor former Knoxville Negro League baseball players as well as the residents of the homes that once stood near the site, including the original family home of Beauford Delaney.
The owner and project team have worked closely with community representatives, the Knox Area Urban League, and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center — a community outreach center and museum dedicated to African-American history in East Tennessee — throughout the project to appropriately reflect the history of the site. Working with them, the decision was made to name the first residential building of the development after Beauford Delaney.
This decision was unanimous among the building owner, project team, and community representatives and stakeholders. No other name was considered.
The new building does not yet have an address, and decisions about the precise signage, interior décor, and building opening ceremony (if any) have not yet been made. This project has not yet entered construction.
Rendering courtesy of GEMAA
(BarberMcMurry Architects + Design Innovation Architects)

Rendering courtesy of GEMAA
(BarberMcMurry Architects + Design Innovation Architects)

Rendering courtesy of GEMAA
(BarberMcMurry Architects + Design Innovation Architects)

The Beauford Delaney building will have nine stories. It will house 35 to 45 condos, dedicate two floors to communal spaces for socializing, and include underground parking for residents as well as restaurant, retail and commercial space on the first floor. The fifth through ninth floors will offer a view of home plate at the new stadium.

The building will be constructed roughly a block away from the first home that the Delaney family owned prior to Urban Renewal.

Delaney Family Home at 815 East Vine Street, Knoxville
Image from KnoxNews.com Archive

The project is expected to be completed in early 2024.