Compared to other periods of Beauford Delaney’s life, his years in Boston (1923 - 1929) are the least well documented in the historical record.
Today, in the first of a series of articles that present "fun facts" about him, I am taking a look at this critical period of his adult life.
- Almost immediately upon moving to Boston, Beauford entered into a circle of "high society folks"—White and Black—who would "direct his sociopolitical education." He met and socialized with people such as Mr. and Mrs. William Shakespeare Sparrow (Black), Mr. and Mrs. Bryant (relatives of poet William Cullen Bryant - White), and George and Josephine St-Pierre Ruffin (Black).
- Beauford met writer Countee Cullen in Boston, long before he or Cullen would meet and deeply influence a young James Baldwin. It was Cullen who first introduced to Beauford the idea of going to Paris.
1927 R. W. Bullock
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Roland Hayes and James Weldon Johnson were two singers that Beauford greatly admired. He had the temerity to introduce himself to both of them after concerts in Boston - Hayes in 1923 and Johnson in 1926.
1929 J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons
1932 Carl Van Vechten
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Biographer David Leeming reports that Beauford saw Josephine Baker perform in Boston "early in his Boston stay," admired her, and followed her career from that point forward.
1927 Photographer unknown
Image in the public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Baker performed in Sissle and Blake's In Bamville (eventually renamed The Chocolate Dandies) in 1924, and the show was staged at Boston's Tremont Theater in June of that year.
- Because of his profound modesty, Beauford turned down several opportunities to serve as a live model for artists in exchange for an opportunity to paint.
Read about Beauford's Boston haunts here:
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