Beauford's Street Scenes

People who are familiar with work from Beauford's New York years undoubtedly know about his Greene Street paintings.

Beauford created many additional works that are called "Street Scene" or something similar. I thought it would be fun to display them together in this blog posts.

All but one of the works represented below were created well before Beauford left NYC for Paris in 1953.

Untitled, circa 1945
Watercolor on paper
15 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches
Purchased with funds provided by the KMA’s Collectors Circle², 2014
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator 

For me, the paintings entitled Greenwich Village (1946) and Twilight Street (1946) have striking similarities regarding Beauford's representation of the street lamps, moon, and pavement.

 

Greenwich Village
(1945) Oil on canvas
Image by Manu Sasoonian, from Amazing Grace
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
 

Twilight Street
(1946) Oil and mixed media on masonite
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Village Street Scene)
(1948) Oil on canvas
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

Street Scene

(1951) Oil on canvas

© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator 

Beauford sailed to Paris in August 1953.  While he may have created the pastel work on paper shown in the image below after his arrival, I believe it is more likely that he painted this before he left New York.

Street Scene
Beauford Delaney
(1953) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The oil painting below was created 15 years after Beauford arrived in Paris. I believe it represents the elevated train (metro) that serves the south and southwest parts of the city.

Street Scene
(1968) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated "BEAUFORD DELANEY 1968" lower right
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator