Untitled

Beauford DelaneyWW-1965-022253

1965·Oil on canvas·53.3 × 66 cm (21 × 26 in.)

<p>After living and working for years in New York, where he painted in a boldly expressionistic figurative style (see his Self-Portrait, 1991.27), Beauford Delaney moved to Paris in 1953, seeking greater personal and artistic freedom. There he joined a group of African American expatriates, including Richard Wright and James Baldwin, and embraced abstraction, producing works that explore different effects of color and light. This composition features a vibrant yellow palette typical of Delaney’s work; yellow was his preferred hue, and it carried associations with the sun and held a personal, spiritual significance. Interweaving the yellow with green and orange pigments, he created a lyrical, tapestry-like effect of layered brushwork.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1965
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 53.3 × 66 cm (21 × 26 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Beauford Delaney

Artist

Beauford Delaney

Painting

Beauford Delaney was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move to Paris in the 1950s. Beauford's younger brother, Joseph, was also a noted painter.

France

Full artist profile →