Four (4) Joseph Delaney (Tennessee/New York, 1904-1991) street scenes sketches on paper including one (1) watercolor or ink wash and three (3) pencil on paper drawings. 1st item: Watercolor or ink wash on paper with pencil underdrawing depicting a New York City intersection. A figure pulls a cart along the sidewalk, lower left, while a horse pulls its own cart down the road, lower right. A car enters the scene behind the horse. Numerous buildings line the street along with a lamppost equipped with road signs. Penciled border and on perforated sketchbook paper. Image: 6 1/2" H x 5 1/4" W. Sheet: 8 1/2" H x 6 3/4" W. 2nd item: Pencil on paper preparatory drawing related to 1st item and depicting the same view with figure, horse, car, buildings, and lamppost, all rendered in a gestural manner. With three sketches of relaxed hands, along with illegible text in script, en verso. 3rd item: Pencil drawing on paper depicting an outdoor cafe and five figures. A flag flies at right while clouds swirl in the sky above. Penciled border and illegible text in script outside border at right. Signed in pen en verso. Image: 5 1/4" W x 4 1/2" H. Sheet: 6 3/4" W x 5" H. 4th item: Pencil drawing on paper depicting a bustling park with a seated figure on a bench in the foreground and a group of three standing figures in the middle ground. A row of streetlights recedes into the distance where a large building rises above the scene. The park may be New York City's Washington Square Park, a favorite subject of Joseph's. Image: 5" H x 4" W. Sheet: 8 1/2" H x 6 5/8" W. Biography: "Joseph Delaney was born in Knoxville, TN in 1904, the ninth of ten children born to a Methodist Minister. He and his older brother, Beauford, discovered their interest in art by drawing on Sunday School cards. In 1930, Joseph left Tennessee for New York where Beauford was also working as an artist, and enrolled in the Art Students League under the tutelage of Thomas Hart Benton and Alexander Brooke. The subject matter he found there, including the city's landmarks and its people–as in the present examples–are the images for which he is best known. In 1986, Delaney returned to Knoxville to live and was artist-in-residence for the University of Tennessee Art Department until his death in 1991. Delaney's works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Chicago Art Institute, The Knoxville Museum of Art, and The Smithsonian American Art Museum." (Source: The Life, Art, and Times of Joseph Delaney, 1904-1991, by Frederick C. Moffatt).

CONDITION: All items in overall very good condition. 1st item: Liquid staining primarily in left-hand and lower borders with minuscule area entering the drawing, center left. Faint toning to edges of sheet. With a few minuscule specks of soiling especially in street, lower right, and in margin, lower center. 2nd item: Faint toning to upper edge where sheet was removed from sketchbook and one speck of soiling in empty space, upper right. Otherwise excellent condition. 3rd item: Excellent condition, with negligible toning to edges of sheet. 4th item: Liquid staining or toning to left and upper margins, outside of image, and liquid staining in upper right margin entering sky. Two other approximately 1/2 " x 1/2" areas of staining around center of sheet are only visible en verso. A 2" x 1/2" area of minuscule red specks in the lower border and entering the scene, lower center. Inclusion in margin, lower right. Dog-ear to tip of lower left corner and 1/4" tear to sheet, lower left.