Another Springtime

Last spring, I published a post containing images of several Beauford Delaney abstracts that evoked the season: Springtime.

I had the same idea for this post, but I'm giving it a different twist.

During the Classes Duo Paris/Knoxville program that united elementary school students from Paris and Beauford's hometown of Knoxville, TN, one of the lessons the students undertook involved copying Beauford's Untitled (Trees).

Untitled (Trees)
(c. 1945) Oil on canvas
29 1/8" x 23 1/8", signed
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

I love this painting - its clean lines and assorted colors remind me of spring. Here are images of several watercolor copies of the work that were created by Classes Duo students in 2018.

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Julie - Ecole Elémentaire Jean Zay

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Judah - Nature's Way Montessori School

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Doussia - Ecole Elémentaire Jean Zay

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Asha - Nature's Way Montessori School

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Sirine - Ecole Elémentaire Jean Zay

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Lydia - Nature's Way Montessori School

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Chaïness - Ecole Elémentaire Jean Zay

Untitled (Curvy Trees) by Mia - Nature's Way Montessori School

Writing from Art: A Creative Workshop

Screenshot from Chaos and Order Website
Partial image of Beauford Delaney's Untitled (1947)
Oil on Masonite
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Each year, postgraduate Arts students from the University of Kent Paris School of Arts and Culture host and curate a Masters of the Arts festival, where Kent students and the wider Paris community come together to create, commune, and explore ideas.

Pallas-Amenah Morgan is serving as the Writing and Literature Liaison for this year's festival, the theme of which is "Chaos and Order." She reached out to me to ask if I'd be interested in hosting a writing workshop or panel discussion during the week of the event. To present the theme, she said the following:

We often fear change, but the disruption of truths, ideals, and the status quo have produced some of the most transformative movements in history. We will curate events and workshops that encourage embracing chaos as an opportunity for personal, artistic, and social growth.

Morgan presented several ideas for a workshop, focused on writers she'd heard me talk about during an Entrée to Black Paris walking tour and my presentation entitled "Black Paris and the Myth of a Colorblind France." She said I could present information about my chosen topic and that participating writers would then create, then perform, a short story or a slam poem about the topic.

When I read the theme - Chaos and Order - I knew immediately that I wanted to host a workshop about Beauford's life and art. I told Morgan that Beauford painted to bring order to the mental chaos that increasingly reigned in his mind and eventually overtook his life, and I also mentioned that several Wells International Foundation interns have written prose and poetry inspired by his work. She agreed that this would be an excellent idea. 

I went on to select four Beauford Delaney works – two figurative and two abstract – that workshop participants will be asked to contemplate. They will share the writings inspired by these works at The Creative Workshop: Writing through Art, which will be held on June 10 from 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM.

The festival will be held during the week of June 7-11, 2022. For the full line-up of events, which includes an art exhibition, a keynote presentation, and film screenings in addition to workshops,click HERE.

The Creative Workshop: Writing through Art event will be take place at 11, Cité Falguière in the 15th arrondissement. Cité Falguière is an historic enclave where artists such as Amadeo Modigliani, Constantin Brancusi, and Chaim Soutine once had studios. Beauford's dear friend, Charley Boggs, once lived at Number 5 on this street.

If you're in Paris and would like to attend this workshop, RSVP here.

Beauford Delaney Abstract Auctioned at Christie's

On May 13, 2022, Christie's New York auctioned a 1967 Beauford Delaney abstract painting during its Post War and Contemporary Art Day Sale.

Lot 167
Untitled
(1967) Oil on canvas
Signed, inscribed, dedicated, and dated (verso)
16 1⁄8 x 10 5⁄8 in. (41 x 27 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The inscription on the back of the painting reads "For Mme Mary Callery with friendship."

Mary Callery is mentioned three times in Amazing Grace: A Biography of Beauford Delaney.  From biographer David Leeming, we learn that she was a sculptor friend of Beauford and that he was posing for her at her home when he made the acquaintance of Georgia O'Keeffe.  This likely occurred during the early 1940s, after Callery's return from a 10-year sojourn in Paris.

Photo of Mary Callery's sculpture of Beauford Delaney
Image by Entrée to Black Paris
Reproduced by permission - Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

O'Keeffe wrote about this meeting.  Read her statement here: Beauford: The Georgia O'Keeffe Portraits

Leeming reports that Callery gave Beauford "a suit, a shirt, two pairs of socks, a change of underwear, and a check for $20" in late 1945.  She saw Beauford's work at his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Prisme in Paris in May 1956, and he wrote to her later that year about a work he created during the "return" to portraiture that was an extension of his abstract work.

Beauford gave the untitled painting to Callery in 1967.  It was sold by Christie's in 2009, and the buyer submitted the work for sale in the current auction.

The estimated sale price for this work was $70,000 - $100,000. It sold for $239,400, including a buyer's premium of 26%.

West Coast Buzz - LACMA Acquires Beauford Delaney Portrait

My email inbox "lit up" earlier this week when the press got hold of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA's) announcement of its acquisition of Beauford's Negro Man [Claude McKay].

Negro Man [Claude McKay]
(1944) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator,
Image: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Stephanie Barron, LACMA's Senior Curator and Department Head, Modern Art Acquisitions, wrote an eloquent piece about the purchase for the museum's newsletter. It is cited as being a gift of the 2022 Collectors Committee, with additional funds provided by the Robert H. Halff Endowment, the Modern and Contemporary Art Council, and The Buddy Taub Foundation, Jill and Dennis Roach, Directors.

Importantly, Barron mentions that LACMA is the first Los Angeles museum to acquire a Beauford Delaney work. At the upper end of the state, San Francisco MoMA acquired three of Beauford's works (two paintings and one work on paper) in 2020.

Claude McKay
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons

By the time Beauford and McKay began to cross paths in New York, McKay was already a seasoned European traveler. He spent two years in Europe before Beauford left Knoxville for Boston and was well into his 11-year sojourn in France, Spain, and Morocco by the time Beauford arrived in New York in 1929. I have found no evidence that the two men were more than casual acquaintances, or that they ever discussed McKay's travels.

Claude McKay moved from New York to Chicago in 1944, the same year Beauford painted Negro Man. He died in Chicago in 1948.