Video Explorations of Beauford's Life and Art

I recently learned that Beauford's biographer, David A. Leeming, will soon be featured in a livestreamed interview during which he will talk about the relationship between Beauford and James Baldwin.

The news inspired me to look for videos that explore this relationship and other aspects of Beauford's life, and I found more than I expected.

Below are a few short (less than 5-minute) recordings that present various perspectives on his life and art.

"Remembering Knoxville-born Artist Beauford Delaney" gives a brief overview of Beauford's life, focusing on his Knoxville origin. 

 

"MIA Highlight: Beauford Delaney, Untitled, 1954" presents Beauford's famous "raincoat painting," focusing on the abstract nature of this work.

"#FallenThroughTheCracks: Black Artists in History - Beauford Delaney" beautifully and succinctly summarizes Beauford's development as an artist.

"Portrait of James Baldwin by Beauford Delaney" presents the 1945 oil portrait of Baldwin held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Finally, the Knoxville Museum of Art obtained permission from INA France to present this ~1-minute video of rare footage of Beauford being interviewed in his Clamart studio on the KMA Facebook page.

Click on the image below to view it.

Beauford's Paris: Rue des Anglais

I don't know if Beauford ever visited the rue des Anglais in Paris.

What I do know is that his several of his paintings "lived" there for a period of time after he was committed to Sainte-Anne's Hospital.

Rue des Anglais - corner of rue Lagrange
© Entrée to Black Paris

David Leeming wrote about this in his biography called Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney:

...Baldwin went to Paris hoping to find a way of arranging for Beauford's permanent care. His first act was to find—at his expense—a new apartment for the storage of Beauford's paintings and for the painter's use should he recover. The apartment was in the rue d'Anglais, near an apartment Baldwin hoped to rent or buy for himself.

I was inspired to write this post after a lengthy Facebook communication with author David Yeats. I posted this image of a painting by Khalif Tahir Thompson, and Yeats commented that he recognized Beauford's portrait of James Baldwin on the wall behind Thompson's brilliant portrayal of Baldwin.

Baldwin
Khalif Tahir Thompson
2020 mixed media
Image from FB - Fair use claim

Portrait of James Baldwin
(1971) Oil on canvas
Bequest of James Baldwin
Image courtesy of Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Yeats told me that he mentions Beauford in his novel, The Opal Causeway, in a scene where two young boys are talking about art in a library and one of them says he thinks he recognizes a Beauford Delaney painting.

Yeats lived at 12, rue des Anglais in April 1975, which was about the time Beauford went to Sainte-Anne's. He knew Baldwin and Baldwin's dear friend, Bernard Hassell. He mentioned that Hassell lived on rue des Anglais and that Beauford's paintings were stored in a flat in the same building. He said the door of that flat had a huge seal on it.

While he couldn't remember the exact address of the building, Yeats described it as being "on the left coming from the direction of bd. Saint Germain." He thought the building might have been at Number 8.

I decided to go to the rue des Anglais to photograph the buildings as they look today.

10-12, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - view from near rue Lagrange
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - restaurant
© Entrée to Black Paris

8, rue des Anglais - entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

6, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

4, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

2 bis, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

2, rue des Anglais
© Entrée to Black Paris

I have asked the Beauford Delaney estate whether it knows the exact address of the storage flat, and they have initiated a search of the Beauford Delaney Papers at UTKnoxville to find this information.

I will update this post once the search is completed.

Swann Auction Galleries Sells Beauford Delaney Abstract

On April 4, 2024, Swann Auction Galleries auctioned a Beauford Delaney abstract that was shown at the itinerant Minneapolis Institute of Arts exhibition entitled Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris.

Untitled
(circa 1956) Gouache, watercolor and charcoal on wove paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

It was most likely created during Beauford's first year at his Clamart studio. 

The composition of this work reminds me of a much later abstract, which was done in different colors and which Swann successfully auctioned in October 2017. 

Untitled (Abstract Composition)
(1965) Watercolor on wove paper
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

For me, both works evoke James Baldwin's quote about a window at the studio:

There was a window in Beauford's house in Clamart before which we often sat—late at night, early in the morning, at noon. This window looked out on a garden; or rather, it would have looked out on a garden if it had not been for the leaves and branches of a large tree which pressed directly against the window.

Everything one saw from this window, then, was filtered through these leaves...

The estimated sale price of the c. 1956 gouache was $30,000 - $40,000. 

 

It sold for $32,500, including a 25% buyer's premium.

Beauford Potpourri 3

By receiving Google Alerts about Beauford and messages from persons interested in his life and work, I am able to collect tidbits of information and references to him that add to the growing data base about him. For the third time, I am publishing links to some of these references.

The Art Story - Beauford Delaney

The Art Story has published a thoughtful and easily digestible summary of Beauford's life and artistic influence. 

Beginning with his birth date, death date, and a timeline, 

it is presented in six sections:

Summary

Accomplishments 

Important Art

Biography 

Influences and Connections 

Useful Resources

It even mentions Les Amis de Beauford Delaney at the end of the biography section!

Hard/Soft/Lost: The Edges of Contemporary Culture / Inappropriate Edges: Beauford Delaney’s Untitled-1969

University of Tennessee Humanities Center Director Amy J. Elias wrote a scintillating evaluation of an untitled 1969 tempura work on paper that was shown in the Transcending Race & Time exhibition at the UT Downtown Gallery in 2020-2021.

Beauford used the front page of the May 24-25, 1969 edition of the International Herald Tribune as the support medium for this work, deliberately choosing to paint over the article published about the 1969 Greensboro Uprising.

Letters Reveal Beauford Delaney and Palmer Hayden’s Lifelong Friendship

This brief article presents images of correspondence by Palmer and Miriam Hayden that mentions Beauford as well as a letter that Beauford wrote to his brother, Joseph Delaney. It includes an image of paintings by Beauford and Hayden that were shown in proximity during the Dirty South exhibition that was hosted by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AK in 2022.

The Burning Bush
(1941) Oil on paperboard
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The third link at the end of this article leads to a recording of an excellent conversation between Kristi McMillan, Director of Learning and Engagement at the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina, and Dr. Mary Campbell, Professor of Art History at the University of Tennessee Knoxville regarding the Through the Unusual Door exhibition that was mounted by the Knoxville Museum of Art in 2020 and the Beauford Delaney's Metamorphosis into Freedom exhibition mounted by the Asheville Art Museum in 2021.