HISTORIC CHARLESTON ESTATES HOLIDAY AUCTION
Lot 124:
Description
This expressive oil painting on canvas panel, attributed to Beauford Delaney, features a striking portrait of a woman in profile. Signed in the lower left corner and dated 1965, the artwork is framed, measuring 18" x 14 x 1" in total. Weight 2 lbs. **In house shipping available on this lot** Beauford Delaney (December 30, 1901-March 26, 1979) was an American modernist painter..Beauford Delaney was an influential American artist known for his vibrant use of colour and distinctive Abstract Expressionist style. Born in 1901 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Delaney was part of a large Christian family. A love of art and music was instilled in him from an early age. He left home in 1923 and, after attending Massachusetts Normal School and the Copley Society in Boston, moved to Harlem in 1929. As he arrived, the Harlem Renaissance was declining, and the Great Depression left many people in poverty. Feeling a connection with the many diverse populations in New York, he often featured the marginalised people he saw in the city. Works like?Can Fire in the Park?(1946) show sobering scenes of life at the time that prominently feature African American subjects. However, far from a realist sensibility, Delaney?s paintings from this period embrace bright colors and thick brushwork that lend a vibrant energy to otherwise dark images of despair. During this time, the artist also began spending time with the cultural avant-garde present in Greenwich Village where he became associated with artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Willem de Kooning, and musicians like Louis Armstrong. Among the most important of these connections was his friendship with the writer James Baldwin who looked up to Delaney as a mentor. Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin inspired each other?s work, and Baldwin sat for his portrait several times throughout the course of their acquaintance. In 2022 Christie?s sold Delaney?s 1966 portrait of James Baldwin for ?1,026,000 in London. In 1953, Delaney left New York and settled in Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life. Delaney?s subject matter included post-Great Depression poverty, homelessness and Black disenfranchisement, but the vibrancy and dynamism in his work seem to suggest the artist?s priority in self-expression through his art. Delaney died in 1979 in Paris. Delaney’s work has now been exhibited by, among others, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Art Institute of Chicago, Knoxville Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Newark Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His work has also been exhibited by a number of galleries, including the Anita Shapolsky Gallery and the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York City.
Condition: good
Share this lot:
