Beauford and Tchaikovsky

In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David A. Leeming notes that Beauford wrote notes in which he compared his life to that of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky was a gay man who lived as a bachelor for much of his life and left his first and only marriage after two and a half months. Beauford wrote about Tchaikovsky's "sad experiences" and "the analogy of the sentiments and emotional need resident in my own consciousness resolving itself to accepting the inevitable responsibilities ... and the acceptance of one's destiny ..."

Beauford loved classical music and I imagine that he may have listened to recordings of Tchaikovsky compositions while penning the thoughts above. In today's blog, I'm sharing excerpts from some of Tchaikovsky's most famous works and pairing Beauford Delaney abstracts with them. Click on the links in the captions to listen to the music.

Composition, 1962
(1962) Mixed media on paper
Signed, dated, and dedicated at bottom right
74 x 53.5 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Swan Lake (Swan Theme)"

Untitled
(c. 1955) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"

 

Untitled
(1970) Gouache
© Artistes sans Frontières/Douglas Petrovic, 2004
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Paired with "Enchanted Lake"

 

 Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Sue Canterbury
Paired with
"Piano Concerto No. 1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 23, TH.55 - 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso"

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
Paired with "Waltz of the Flowers"

 

 

Metamorphosis into Freedom at the Institut Giacometti

On 4 March 2023 I published an article about Metamorphosis into Freedom, the itinerant art exhibition organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA).

On 29 March 2023, the Institut Giacometti Ecole des Modernités is hosting the organizer of this exhibition, Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator Stephen Wicks, for a virtual presentation of the same name. Wicks will present an overview of Beauford's career and then focus on Beauford's studio practice during and after his move to France.

Blue-Light Abstraction (detail)
(c. 1962) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Wicks has led KMA's curatorial department for more than twenty-five years. He manages the museum's exhibition program and oversees the development of its collections of East Tennessee-related art and international contemporary art. He was instrumental in helping the KMA build the world’s largest and most comprehensive public collection of Knoxville-born painter Beauford Delaney’s works of art.

In December 2021, I published a two-part article* in which Wicks and Professor Rachel Cohen discuss one of Beauford's portraits of James Baldwin. As part of the conversation, Wicks describes how he found a sketch of Alberto Giacometti in one of Beauford's sketchbooks and mentions that Beauford knew Giacometti. I imagine that Wicks will delve more deeply into the connection between the two men during his presentation.

The Institut Giacometti's Ecole des Modernités is an art history program created to enhance understanding of the decisive period in which Giacometti lived and worked. Invited international art historians and curators present new research that sheds new light on a period of modern art history through the original study of an artist, movement, or context. A large part of the program's focus is on non-French artists who moved to Paris to pursue their work.

The "Metamorphosis into Freedom" conference will be held on March 29 at 12:30 PM Eastern Time / 6:30 PM Paris time. 

To register, click HERE.

*Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 1 
  Stephen Wicks and Rachel Cohen Discuss Baldwin Portrait - Part 2

Les Amis Reminisces about Spring Postings

It's becoming a habit ...

Posting about springtime on the blog each year ...

This year, my February post was early, but it was aligned with this spirit.

It also inspired me to search the blog archives to remind myself of what I've posted in previous years.

Here are the links to this year's post and to posts from 2021 and 2022:

Early Spring at Sainte Anne's Hospital  

Springtime 

Another Springtime

And here are images a few more Beauford Delaney works that make me think of spring!

Waning Light: Abstraction, 1963
Oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 38 1/8 inches (130 x 97 cm)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled
Watercolor on paper
Signed and dated lower left in red ink, "Beauford Delaney 1971"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of Case Antiques

Untitled
Oil on canvas
51 x 38 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of the Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Metamorphosis into Freedom at the Hunter Museum of American Art

Metamorphosis into Freedom is a traveling exhibition organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA).* Featuring more than 40 paintings and works on paper, this show examines the evolution of Beauford's career within the context of his 38-year friendship with James Baldwin.

Inspired by KMA's extraordinary exhibition entitled Through the Unusual Door, it explores the ways that Beauford and Baldwin’s ongoing intellectual exchange shaped one another’s creative output and worldview.

Metamorphosis Into Freedom was shown at the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC from April 2 to June 21, 2022. It is now on view at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN, where visitors will be able to enjoy it through May 1, 2023.

The Hunter Museum chose Beauford's Untitled (Abstract Circles) to represent the exhibition on its Website.

Untitled (Abstract Circles)
(1956) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

It has organized an impressive series of events that are inspired by the show:

On March 9, it is offering a workshop in partnership program with CHI Memorial's Art Therapies & Well Being Program that focuses on teen mental health, identity and sexuality with the intent to explore health and social justice in the Chattanooga community.

On March 16, Stephen Wicks, the Barbara A. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator of the Knoxville Museum of Art and exhibition organizer, will give an in-gallery tour of the exhibit and offer insights into the artist and his works.

On March 23, the museum has organized a poetic exploration of Beauford and Baldwin's friendship that will include remarks from Ricardo Morris, founder of the Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas.

On April 15, a virtual event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hunter’s Student Symposium will explore the topic of "Intersecting Queerness." Featuring the work of nationwide undergraduate students (Louisville, Temple, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and Yale), each presentation will offer insight into the next generation of thought leaders.

And on April 27, a program entitled "'Dimension' Fusing Vision Art And Performance" will feature dance photography and spoken word performances.

With the exception of the in-gallery tour, for which regular admission fees to the museum apply, all events are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit Hunter Museum of Art: Metamorphosis into Freedom

*KMA owns the largest and most comprehensive public collection of Beauford’s art in the world.