77 - BEAUFORD DELANEY (AMERICAN 1901-1979)

BEAUFORD DELANEY (AMERICAN 1901-1979) Untitled (Seated Young Artist), 1937 pastel and charcoal on paper 30.9 x 48.3 cm (12 1/8 x 19 in.) framed dimensions: 39.1 x 56.4 cm (15 1/8 x 22 1/8 in.) signed, inscribed and dated Beauford Delaney [illeg.,] U.S.A. 1937 in ink lower right accompanied by a notarized letter of authenticity from Derek L. Spratley, Administrator of the Estate of Beauford Delaney, dated April 9, 2018 PROVENANCE Estate of Beauford Delaney Michael Emery Delaney, nephew of the artist Private Collection LOT NOTES Before he became known as an abstract painter in Paris, Beauford Delaney was one of the most sensitive portraitists of 1930s New York, and pastel was his principal medium. Drawn in 1937, a year after he took his studio at 181 Greene Street, this sheet shows him working outdoors. A young man in a cap and spectacles sits in the grass absorbed in his reading. He is ringed by a halo of green and framed by loosely scribbled trees under a yellow and blue sky. The quick, looping contour and the high-key palette of orange, blue and citron anticipate the Fauvist color of the Greene Street paintings of the 1940s. By the following year Delaney had gained real visibility: he was featured in a Life magazine article that included a large photograph of him seated in front of his paintings at the Washington Square outdoor show. Keywords: Harlem Renaissance Artist, African American Modernist, Greenwich Village Artist, 1930s Pastel Portrait, James Baldwin Circle, Beauford Delaney Pastel N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals LLC and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.