Beauford's Birthday Tribute

Beauford Delaney

© Carl van Vechten 1953

I did not know Beauford Delaney personally.  But in reading about him and talking with people who knew him – in particular, Richard Gibson and Ed Clark – I have been repeatedly impressed by the glowing statements and vivid exclamations made about him. In Leeming’s biography, Beauford is described by friends as a “big Buddha” and “a veritable angel of a man.” James Baldwin described him as a “cross between Brer Rabbit and Saint Francis of Assisi,” and a “spiritual father.” In honor of the 108th anniversary of Beauford’s birth, and as a tribute to his warm and gentle spirit, here are several quotes written by people who knew and loved him. Happy Birthday, Beauford!

As for Beauford Delaney, it escapes the general notice that he has comprehended, more totally perhaps than anyone…the tremendous reality of the light which comes out of darkness. If we stand before a Delaney canvas, we are standing, my friends, in the light: and, if in this light, which is both loving and merciless, we are able to confront ourselves, we are liberated into the perception that darkness is not the absence of light, but the negation of it.
– James Baldwin

Portrait of James Baldwin

Beauford Delaney

Oil on canvas (1945)

Philadelphia Museum of Art

I think of Beauford Delaney first as a wonderful, amazing and unique human being, a near saint or better than saint, an individual who has known nothing but adversity, met it squarely, and rendered it null, not through success but by sheer pluck and indomitable fortitude…He has lived his whole life with but one thought in mind – to paint…Poor though he has been, he has never given the impression of being miserable. He has always given more than he received – that is to say, himself.

– Henry Miller

Perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of Beauford Delaney as a man is his generosity of spirit. It is practically impossible for someone to do something so mean that Beauford is not ready to forgive it and understand.
– James Jones

For many years, the sparkle of his gaze shone around him and attracted a crowd of friends, fascinated by this strong, if silent, presence. It was not his discourse that captivated, but a light that emanated from him and permeated everyone. (Translated from French)
– Darthea Speyer

In honor of the centennial of Beauford’s birth in 2001, the Palmer Museum of Art organized an exposition of selected works by Beauford and his dear friend Larry Calcagno. It was shown at five institutions around the U.S. from February 2001 to November 2002.

Catalog cover for An Artistic Friendship

He is about the only person in my life, who gave me generously of deep insights into life – without demanding tribute. A true artist – beyond this world!
– Larry Calcagno

Two of Beauford’s friends sent tributes specifically for this blog posting. Here is an excerpt from what Richard Gibson has to say (his full tribute will be published in a subsequent posting):

Beauford Delaney was a master and friend who taught me how to see, hear and understand a lot that I learned about the arts, from jazz to Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson and the spirituals to the European and American classics, from the glories of African sculpture to Mondrian…

Finally, Richard Long has contributed the last lines of his poem “Ascending, for Beauford” (1975):

All gathers, comes to growth, fuses.

The yellow, the green. The white paper
catching, refracting the sunlight.

The palette fills with light and love.

The spirit lifts, rises.

The world floats, ascends.

Ascension.

Ascending.

Christmas with Beauford

Amazing Grace - A Life of Beauford Delaney (by David Leeming, Oxford University Press, 1998) is the only biography of Beauford Delaney written to date.  Because Christmas is approaching, I consulted this volume in search of information about how Beauford celebrated the holidays in France.  I found several anecdotes, many of which are tinged with melancholy because of Beauford's worsening mental illness.  Below are two that bring to light Beauford's capacity to appreciate life under arduous conditions, and his ability to create art in the midst of them.

Beauford spent Christmas Eve of 1959 with James Baldwin and Beat poet Dixie Nimmo. Nimmo cooked an entire chicken on a single burner in his unheated apartment near the Seine (perhaps at “The Beat Hotel” on rue Git-le-Coeur), and all three men “drank quantities of red wine.” Leeming indicates that Beauford considered the meal the best that he had ever eaten and the evening as the happiest that he could remember.

In the days leading up to the Christmas of 1961, Beauford lived at the home of French art collector Solange du Closel and her husband. Du Closel had been a supporter of Beauford since 1958, when she visited his studio in Clamart and bought several of his paintings. With Beauford’s approval, she arranged for a psychiatrist to evaluate Beauford’s mental state, and followed the doctor’s recommendation to place Beauford at the Nogent-sur-Marne Maison de Santé for a rest cure during the Christmas holidays. Prior to his departure, she encouraged Beauford to paint Christmas scenes. Beauford obliged her, creating several works.

Nativity Scene
Beauford Delaney
Oil on canvas (1961)

He gave a painting to Madame du Closel, which featured a simple nativity scene on a bright yellow background that would become a hallmark of several of Beauford’s later works. Beauford would continue to give the du Closels paintings at Christmas time.

Les Amis de Beauford Delaney wishes you the best for the holiday season! 

Journal Officiel Announcement!

The announcement for Les Amis de Beauford Delaney has been published in the Journal Officiel – two weeks earlier than anticipated! It appeared in the December 12, 2009 issue and arrived in my mailbox a week later. I have never seen anything administrative be accomplished so quickly in this country.

Now that the association has the right to enter into contracts and other legally binding activities, the next step is to open a French bank account. Because the holidays are approaching, I anticipate that this will take a little time. But maybe, “lightning will strike twice,” and I’ll be surprised once again!

A suivre… (Stay tuned…)

Our Association - Les Amis de Beauford Delaney

In France, it is surprisingly easy to create a non-profit association. Basically, all you need are two people and the desire to create an organization to achieve some goal. Neither age nor nationality is important. You write the statutes for your association, submit them to the local authorities along with a couple of additional supporting documents, and await the arrival of a confirmation notice from the authorities indicating that your organization has been created. This generally occurs within five days of your submission, provided that there is no problem with the paperwork that you submit.

Approximately a month after receiving the confirmation notice, an announcement will appear in a French government publication called Journal Officiel. You must pay the journal to cover its costs for printing this announcement, but once it has been published, your organization can engage in legally binding operations. It is also eligible to receive subsidies from government and other institutions.

I undertook the task of creating our organization a few weeks ago and the process has gone very smoothly thus far. I took care to solicit advice about how to construct the statutes of the association so that they would be broad enough to allow us to engage in a wide variety of activities in pursuit of our goal. There were no questions about our documentation when I went to the Prefecture de Police (the local authority responsible for managing applications for non-profit associations), and the confirmation letter was signed three days later. It arrived within the expected time frame. We still have a couple of weeks to wait before the appearance of the announcement in Journal Officiel.