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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Ascension: A Century of African-American Art at Swann Auction Galleries

Once again, Swann Auction Galleries will make Beauford Delaney works available for purchase during an African-American Art sale. This spring's auction is called "Ascension: A Century of African-American Art." It will be held on Thursday, April 2 at 2:30 PM.

Three Beauford Delaney paintings will be auctioned at this event. Two are portraits and one is an abstract expressionist work.

Untitled (Abstraction in Green)
(1961) Oil on linen canvas
410x275 mm; 16x10 inches
Signed in oil, lower right recto. Dated in oil, lower left recto.
Signed, dated and inscribed "Clamart, Seine" in oil, verso.
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Provenance: gift from from the artist; Don Fink, Paris, thence by descent to his estate; private collection, Paris.

Don Fink was an expatriate artist living in Paris who became part of Beauford Delaney's circle of friends soon after his arrival in Paris in 1953. They showed together in 1956 at Galerie Arnaud in a group exhibition of abstract American painters.

Swann's catalog describes this painting as "a radiant example of Delaney's mid-career abstraction in a warm, yellowish green." Its estimated value is $30,000 to $40,000.

Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)
(circa 1930-35) Color pastels and charcoal on gray, textured wove paper
597x445 mm; 23x17½ inches
Signed in charcoal, lower left
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist's brother Joseph Delaney; private collection.

The auction catalog qualifies this portrait as "sensitive" and indicates that it was likely created by Beauford soon after he moved to New York. He may have painted it to show at his first solo exhibition, Exhibit of Portrait Sketches by Beauford Delaney, which was held at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library in 1930. The show consisted of five pastel and 10 charcoal portraits.

The estimated value of Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) is $6,000 to $9,000.

Spanish Youth
(1967-68) Oil on linen canvas
610x457 mm; 24x18 inches.
Signed and dated in oil, lower right.
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Richard A. Long, Atlanta; thence by descent to his estate.

This painting dates over ten years after Beauford visited Spain with his friend Larry Calcagno in August 1956. The two men visited mutual friend Jim LeGros in Ibiza and were joined by James Baldwin, Baldwin's friend Arnold, and Leslie Schenk. They later traveled to Majorca.

The estimated value of this work is $5,000 to $7,000.

To find out about the buying process, visit the following page on the gallery’s Web site: http://www.swanngalleries.com/auctions/buying/.

For more information about this auction, contact Imani Higginson at .

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