Beauford and Ted Joans

Surrealist poet and painter Ted Joans was acquainted with Beauford and wrote about him at least twice.

Where and when they first met, I do not know. I am aware of three encounters in Paris.

Joans was born in Cairo, Illinois and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at Indiana University, he moved to NYC in 1951 and became involved with the Beat Generation in Greenwich Village. Beauford was living in Greenwich Village at that time and had already become somewhat of a local celebrity, so it is possible that the two men met there.

Joans began traveling to Paris in 1960 and visited the city many times during the following two decades. He wrote about Beauford after having seen him at the solo exhibition of Beauford's works organized by Darthea Speyer in February 1973.

Beauford and Darthea

Invitation card for 1973 exhibit at Galerie Darthea Speyer

Courtesy of Galerie Darthea Speyer

In Volume 23, No. 3 of the Johnson Publishing Company's Black World (January 1974), Joans speaks with rapture about Beauford's work:

...one has nothing to fear from the paintings of Beauford Delaney but the truth. Some of that truth was exhibited at the Galerie Darthea Speyer, 6 Rue Jacques Callot on the Left Bank (Paris) from Feb. 6 to May 2. The paintings of Mr. Delaney were at last being shown at an important international gallery after years of being almost totally ignored by them, in spite of Mr. Delaney being one of the living legends of American art.

Beauford Delaney's oils are painted natural as he is, giving off charming light that causes on to be happy before the painting. His work stimulates the human soul, like a Billie Holiday recording or a Louis Armstrong trumpet solo, the true magic of America: Black Magic!

The magazine published a photo taken at the exhibition, in which is Beauford sitting in a chair with his left arm outstretched, while Joans and jazz saxaphonist Ornette Coleman stand above him. The caption in the magazine indicates that Coleman purchased one of Beauford's oils, while Joans purchased a drawing.

L to R: Beauford (seated), Ornette Coleman, and Ted Joans

Photographer unknown*

In 1975, photographer Marion Kalter captured Beauford and Ted Joans on film in Beauford's studio on rue Vercingétorix.  

Ted Joans and Beauford Delaney at rue Vercingétorix studio in 1975
© Marion Kalter

In 1976, Joans visited Beauford at Sainte-Anne's Hospital. As a result, he was inspired to write a poem called "In Thursday Sane," which he signed and dated "16 dec 76 Paris Juedi [sic] 2:30 PM." With his permission, it was published by Swan Scythe Press in 2001.

Book cover - Lost and Found: "In Thursday Sane"

Sandra McPherson discovered the poem when found a copy of Amos Tutuola’s novel The Palm-Wine Drinkard in a used bookshop in Sacramento, CA in 1999. Joans had once owned the book, where he wrote "In Thursday Sane" in the back pages. Lost and Found: "In Thursday Sane" publishes not only the 33-line verse, but also images of the original handwritten poem. It also includes an image of a sketch by Joans (reproduced on the book cover), which presumably depicts him and Beauford.

Joans refers to Beauford and Beauford's brother Joseph in the poem - "One of the dark Delaney brothers - Painters both - one here other there".

He mentions the hospital's "Pinel Salle" twice (this pavilion still exists at Sainte-Anne's) and describes Beauford as being a "gray beard man of bright paintings."

He ends the poem by expressing his heart's disbelief that Beauford is "crazy." 

 

*The use of this low-resolution image is contended to be a fair use, since it is used solely for educational purposes in a not-for-profit blog, is necessary for cultural and historical purposes, and is not believed to decrease the material value of the copyright by its use here. The image is of inherently lower quality than the original, reducing the risk of competitiveness and therefore the effects of this copy on the market for or value of versions held by the owner of the copyright. Our usage does not limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the image in any way.