Beauford at Swann Auction Galleries' 5 April 2018 African American Fine Art Sale

A single, magnificent Beauford Delaney landscape painting is available for purchase at Swann Auction Galleries' April 5 African American Fine Art sale.

Untitled (Village Street Scene)
(1948) Oil on canvas
737x1016 mm; 29x40 inches
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
Beauford lived at 181 Greene Street in Greenwich Village in 1948. Among his accomplishments that year were a solo exhibition at the Artists Gallery on 57th Street and being awarded second prize in the Village Art Center's annual competition for a portrait of James Baldwin. In November 1948, Baldwin would depart for Paris.

Beauford combined vibrant colors and geometric circles and angles to create this singular work. The almost inconspicuous shadow of a single, anonymous human provides the only sign of life in this cityscape.

According to the Swann Auction Galleries' Web site, large canvases from Beauford's New York period are extremely scarce - this is only the second to come to auction in the past thirty years.

The estimated value of Untitled (Village Street Scene) is $150,000 - $250,000.

The auction will take place at 2:30 PM on Thursday, April 5, 2018. Preview dates are as follows: March 31, 12-5 PM; April 2 to 4, 10-6 PM; April 5, 10-12 PM.

For more information, contact Nigel Freeman at
.

Beauford - "La Vie en Rose"

As I sat down to write this post and contemplated the approach of the 39th anniversary of Beauford's death (he passed away on March 26, 1979), I found myself thinking of his indomitable spirit and the myriad ways that he used color to express it.

For some reason, the Edith Piaf song, "La Vie en Rose," as recorded by Louis Armstrong popped into my head and I decided to look through images of Beauford's work to see how he used this color throughout the years. I share a few examples below.

Central Park
(1950) Oil on canvas
Image from Pomegranate Note Card
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled
(1958) Gouache on paper
25 1/2" x 19 5/8", signed and dated
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York , NY

Untitled (Greene Street)
(1950) Oil on canvas
signed and dated lower left: B. Delaney. 1950
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Grape Motif)
(1946) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled
(1964) Oil on canvas
Collection of Elliot & Kimberly Perry
Image courtesy of Ashley Phifer
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Man in African Dress
(1972) Watercolor on Paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Charlie Parker Yardbird
(1958) Oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of the James F. Dicke Family
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Beauford Viewed through the Eyes of Children

The Classes Duo Paris / Knoxville project that connects children at the Jean Zay Elementary Public School in Paris' 14th arrondissement with children at the Nature's Way Montessori School in Knoxville, Tennessee through Beauford's life and art continues to exceed expectations! The American kids are learning French, the French kids are learning English, and both groups are anticipating being able to meet face-to-face in the fall.

Between the video conference held on February 2 and the one held on March 9, the students created clay sculptures of Josephine Baker and her cheetah, Chiquita. These were inspired by the story about Beauford and his brother, Joseph, modeling red clay during their youth and the information presented about how Beauford admired Baker and followed her career.

Jean Zay sculptures of Josephine Baker
Image courtesy of Jean Zay Elementary School

Jean Zay sculptures of Josephine Baker
Image courtesy of Jean Zay Elementary School
The Knoxville students even glazed their sculptures.

Nature's Way sculptures of Josephine Baker and Chiquita
Image courtesy of Nature's Way Montessori School

Nature's Way sculptures in kiln
Image courtesy of Nature's Way Montessori School
During the March 9 videoconference, the children asked each other numerous personal questions, such as whether they have pets, whether they prefer painting to sculpting, what kinds of sports they play... Jean Zay kids had their questions written in English with French phonetics to help them pronounce their words properly.

Jean Zay sculptures of Josephine Baker
© Wells International Foundation
On the Knoxville side, the children told coordinator Mary Campbell what they wanted to say and she instructed them how to say it in French.

Nature's Way kids and coordinator Mary Campbell on screen
© Wells International Foundation
There was more talk of food as well, with kids sharing that they enjoy eating spaghetti and meatballs, samoussas, and apples, among other things.

The Jean Zay children sang two songs for the Knoxville kids: "J'ai Deux Amours" by Josephine Baker, and Ten Little Witches!

Announcement for Witches song
© Wells International Foundation

Children singing "Ten Little Witches"
© Wells International Foundation
Just before wrapping up this session, the Jean Zay kids shared their pastel portraits of Beauford, inspired by the self-portrait that graces the cover of the catalog for the Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color art exhibition.

Jean Zay student holding Resonance of Form catalog
© Wells International Foundation

Displaying Beauford Delaney Portraits for Nature's Way kids
© Wells International Foundation

Posing with Beauford Delaney Portraits
© Wells International Foundation
For more images of these portraits and the clay sculptures of Josephine and Chiquita, click on the links below:

Nature's Way - Working with Clay
Jean Zay - Working with Clay
9 March 2018 Session
Beauford Delaney Portraits

And continue to watch this blog for updates on the project!

Beauford at the Anita Shapolsky Gallery

Focus on Abstract Gems is the current exhibition being shown at the Anita Shapolsky Gallery in New York.

A description of the exhibition on the gallery Web site indicates the following:

Our charming exhibit of small paintings, paper pieces, and sculptures are worth the trip. These works adhere to the gallery’s focus of abstract expressionist style, but offers an eclectic variety of genre, medium and eras. It exposes rare drawings, prints, photographs and paintings from some of the most significant artists of the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Among the works on paper is Beauford's Untitled (Ibiza).

Untitled (Ibiza)
(1956) gouache and watercolor
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

It came from the traveling exhibition An Artistic Friendship: Beauford Delaney and Lawrence Calcagno, which originated at the Palmer Museum of Art (Pennsylvania State University) in February 2001.

Anita Shapolsky has exhibited works by Lawrence Calcagno for many years. She purchased this Beauford Delaney work while it was in a joint exhibition with Lawrence Calcagno works at her gallery.

She commented on Beauford's art as follows:

"From the works that I have seen, I feel that they are lyrical, colorfield abstractions."

Focus on Abstract Gems will be on display through April 7, 2018.

Anita Shapolsky Gallery
AS Art Foundation
152 East 65th Street
New York, NY 10065
Telephone: 212.452.1094
Internet: http://www.anitashapolskygallery.com/