Additional recent sales of Beauford's work

Last week, Les Amis reported on the record breaking sale of Beauford's portrait of James Baldwin entitled The Sage Black.

This week, we're announcing additional recent sales of Beauford's work.

Phillips held its Modern and Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session in New York on November 21, 2025. Lot 183 was a beautiful Beauford Delaney watercolor on paper, the provenance of which lists the Gloria and James Jones Collection.

Lot 183
Untitled
(1961) watercolor on paper
signed, inscribed and dated "Beauford Delaney 1961 Mallorca" lower right
25 3/4 x 19 3/4 in. (65.4 x 50.2 cm)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Beauford traveled to San Telmo in Mallorca with Charlie and Gita Boggs and Joe and Bernice O'Reilly during the summer of 1961. This trip took place after Beauford's suicide attempts in Greece.

In Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, biographer David Leeming states that "In San Telmo, he did eat well and rest, and, with the help of soothing talks with Bernice and Gita especially, managed to maintain a surface calm and even began to do some watercolors."

The estimated sale price of Untitled was $20,000-$30,000.

The actual sale price was $41,280, including a 29% buyer's premium.

Galerie Setze in Paris privately sold several sketches that Beauford executed in the 1930s.

Unnamed portrait
(circa 1935) Charcoal
28 x 44 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Portrait of James Baldwin
(circa 1938) Pencil on paper
27 x 37 cm
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Though the title of this work indicates that the sitter for the portrait was James Baldwin, the date attributed to the work and Beauford's own cryptic inscription make this highly unlikely. Baldwin reportedly met Beauford when he was sixteen years old—this means he could not have sat for Beauford prior to 1940.

Galerists Sandra and Eric Setze reported that Beauford gifted these works to Professor Michel Fabre, whose son, Pierre Fabre, received them through inheritance.

The sale price of these works is undisclosed.

The Sage Black - Sold by Christie's

During its 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17, 2025, Christie's sold Beauford's The Sage Black from the Collection of Robert and Faye Davidson.

Lot 20 A
The Sage Black
(1967) Oil on canvas
signed, inscribed, titled and dated
 'The Sage Black Beauford Delaney Paris 1967'
(on the reverse)
35 ½ x 33 in. (90.2 x 83.8 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Two fairly recent descriptions of this bold work resonate with me.

The first, written by curator Stephen C. Wicks of the Knoxville Museum of Art, was published in the museum's Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door catalog in 2020:

"Of Delaney's many images of Baldwin, The Black Sage represents one of his most powerfully expressive portrayals. The writer's larger than live visage exceeds the canvas's vertical span. The painting's title and the sitter's enlarged eyes suggest Delaney's recognition of his protégé's emergence as a cultural and artistic visionary. Delaney's use of swirling color and dripping black paint to define the contours of Baldwin's face brings to mind the writer's recollection of the artist calling to his attention the strange beauty of an oily reflection 'moving like mercury in the black water of the gutter.'"

The other description was written by Rachel Cohen and published in Amy J. Elias' 2025 anthology of scholarly essays entitled Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin:

"... the head of the sitter stretches up to the very top of the canvas and seemingly beyond, suggesting that the viewer might be within that person—or the whole world might be.Lines of a striking periwinkle blue course aruond the face and shoulders and through the background, as does an ochre yellow .... A pattern of colors is running through the atmosphere and the person.

To read a full essay that provides additional painterly description of The Sage Black and information about Beauford's life at the time he created this work, visit Christie's Website and click on Lot Essay.

The estimated sale price for this celebrated work was $500,000 to $700,000.

The actual sale price was $1,524,000, including a 27% buyer's premium.

The hammer price of $1.2 million is a new record for a Beauford Delaney sale at auction.

Christie's to Auction The Sage Black

Christie's will auction Beauford's iconic portrait of James Baldwin entitled The Sage Black during its 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17, 2025.

Lot 20 A
The Sage Black
(1967) Oil on canvas
signed, inscribed, titled and dated
 'The Sage Black Beauford Delaney Paris 1967'
(on the reverse)
35 ½ x 33 in. (90.2 x 83.8 cm.)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Les Amis has published posts that mention or feature this painting many times before:

Beauford's Portraits of James Baldwin - Part 2

Beauford and the Sage

Beauford and Free Lunch - Part 2

Romare Beardon and Harry Henderson on Beauford

Beauford and the Civil Rights Movement

Christie's estimates the sale price to be between $500,000 and $700,000.

For information about the auction, click HERE.

Finding Higher Ground: Beauford at the Bistro at the Bijou

The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) has the largest public collection of Beauford's work in the world.

Knoxville Museum of Art
© Wells International Foundation

It has created a space dedicated to works by Beauford and his brother, Joseph, as part of its permanent exhibition entitled Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee.

Beauford Delaney works in Higher Ground exhibition
© Wells International Foundation

As part of its public programming to increase awareness of the exhibition, KMA has organized an event in collaboration with a local downtown restaurant called Bistro at the Bijou, where Knoxvillians will celebrate Beauford's life, his art, and his...

GUMBO!

Knoxville Museum of Art promotional image

In 2012, Les Amis published an article about Beauford's gumbo recipe, which appeared in a 1949 edition of the Greenwich Village Gourmet.

Bistro at the Bijou will reproduce this recipe during dinner service from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm on November 18, 2025. Attendees will enjoy a live performance of jazz by the Greg Hardy Trio.

To read the gumbo recipe, click HERE.

The Bistro at the Bijou
807 South Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 544-0537