Beauford Delaney (American/Tennessee, 1901-1979) cityscape black marker drawing entitled "Istanbul, Turkey" and depicting a stylized hillside in Istanbul with numerous buildings surrounded by foliage all rendered in gestural, spontaneous line. Created in 1966 when Delaney visited the writer James Baldwin in Istanbul. Signed and dated "Beauford Delaney / 1966" and titled "Istanbul Turkey" in blue ink, lower left quadrant. With Beauford Delaney estate stamp to frame backing. Floated under glass in a simple black frame with black mat and white reveal. Sheet: 8" H x 10 1/2" W. Frame: 12 1/2" H x 15 7/16" W. Biographical note: Modernist artist Beauford Delaney was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. An apprentice to artist Lloyd Branson, Delaney was encouraged by his mentor to study art in Boston. In 1929 he traveled to New York and established himself as a prominent artist of the Harlem Renaissance. There he gained the attention and admiration of well-known writers and artists such as James Baldwin, Georgia O''Keefe, Alfred Stieglitz, and many others. Delaney experimented throughout his career with a wide variety of styles, including his personal brands of realism, fauvism, post-impressionism, and abstract expressionism. His departure from New York to Paris in 1953 also marked his transition from figurative compositions to abstractions with a focus on color and light. In 1978, the year before he died, the Studio Museum in Harlem initiated its Black Master series with a retrospective of his work. His paintings can be found in the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, and other major museums.

CONDITION: Overall very good condition with five old, vertical crease lines. Minor dog-ear creases to upper left and lower right corners. Orange pigment to center left is likely inherent. Affixed to backing with archival tape.