Beauford Delaney

Joseph Huttner
20 February 2006
Professor Masters

Beauford Delaney

Beauford Delaney was a premier African –American artist of the 20th century. Born in 1901 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Delaney was encouraged to pursue a career in art at an early age. His Father, a minister, and his Mother, a former slave, taught Delaney and his brother Joseph about Christian virtues and a love for art and music. Heeding the advice of his art childhood art teacher, Delaney decided to apply for a position at the Massachusetts Normal School in Boston in 1924. While there, he received formal training and notable artists of the time took notice of his work.

In 1929, Delaney moved to Harlem, New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was under way. This was a time of great literary, artistic, historical and political achievement within the African-American community in Harlem. The affable Delaney quickly befriended many Renaissance notables including W.E.B DuBois, Marian Anderson, Duke Ellington, James Baldwin, and Ella Fitzgerald. Soon, these “celebrities” were admiring Delaney’s work. With funding from his newfound friends, Delaney’s first major work in New York was soon underway, taking place at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, “the center of Harlem’s cultural life” (The glbtq, 1). The show was a huge success and spurned a second show the following year highlighted with a Works Progress Administration mural in the Harlem Hospital. Another source of inspiration for Delaney were the jazz clubs that filled Harlem during this time. Many of Delaney’s works have been described as “musical”, probably because they embody the jazz culture and sentiment that was common at this time.

While in New York, Delaney mostly painted portraits. Author James Baldwin, who Delaney painted four times from 1945 to 1960, described Delaney as a “spiritual father” and being the “first walking, living proof, for me, that a black man could be an artist” (The glbtq, 1). It seemed Delaney’s career was on the upswing but news of his homosexuality kept him from becoming a mainstream name. From 1930 to 1953, Delaney painted landscapes of downtown New York landscapes and scenery, including one of his most famous pieces, Washington Square, which highlights Delaney’s desire for peace and unity in the world.

But an interesting turn of events occurred in 1953, when Delaney received a grant to study in France. While his original intentions were to study in France, then continue along to Italy, Delaney ended up spending the rest of his life in Paris. While there, Delaney’s paintings became much more abstract and were in stark contrast to his earlier works. There were many reasons for this change. To start, Delaney was away from his family, who was never accepting of abstract art. Also, Delaney struggled with alcoholism and eventually was diagnosed with mental illness. His brother, Joseph, has noted that Delaney often “heard voices” and his difficulties “as a black man, gay man, and an artist simply overwhelmed him (The glbtq, 2)” to the point where he could no longer take care of himself.

Delaney died in 1979 alone, and impoverished. Although Delaney was gone, however, the future of his paintings was hardly over. Joseph Delaney paid French taxes, shipping and storage fees to have his brother’s work returned the United States. Upon arrival, the University of Tennessee expressed interest in the artwork, and setup a small, but important exhibit that facilitated exhibits in larger venues. Delaney’s work has been the subject of several major exhibitions lately, including “Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris” which was hosted by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2004, and “Beauford Delaney in Context” which was mounted at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2006. Thanks to increased exposure, Delaney is now celebrated as an important American modernist painter.

Some of Delaney’s most famous works include various renditions of his self-portrait. Amusingly, about half of Delaney’s self-portraits include a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, and half do not. In 2005, author Patricia Sue Canterbury published Beauford Delaney: From New York To Paris, which “explores Delaney's dramatic stylistic shift from figurative compositions of New York life to abstract expressionist studies of color and light following his move to Paris in 1953”. If exposure for Delaney’s art continues to increase, he will likely receive the artistic credit he deserved during his lifetime, but sadly, never achieved.

Bibliography:

“Beauford Delaney.” The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture (glbtq). 19 February 2006. < http://www.glbtq.com/arts/delaney_b.html>

“Whatever Happened to Beauford Delaney?” Find Articles. 2004 Gale Group. 19 February 2006. <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n11_v82/ai_15918915>