Beauford Delaney (American/Tennessee, 1901-1979) abstract graphite drawing on wove paper depicting a compact, frenetic arrangement of expressive lines, some made using a broad, soft point and others more finely rendered. Signed in blue pen "Beauford Delaney / Paris 1962," lower right. On Latune de Balcons paper with partial watermark along lower edge reading DESSIN SUPERIEUR GELATINE LATUNE BALCONS. Inscribed in pencil en verso "Michael E. Delaney" along with sticker reading "11 1/2 x 9 1/2 / 599." Floated under glass on a patterned mat in an ebonized wood frame with red highlights. Image: 9 3/4" H x 7 1/2" W. Sheet: 11 15/16" H x 9 1/2" W. Frame: 18 7/8" H x 16 7/8" W. 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. Numerous artworks from this period demonstrate the artist's experimental and expressive use not only of color but also of non-representational forms, as does this drawing.

PROVENANCE: Estate of Beauford Delaney, Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, court-appointed administrator.

CONDITION: Overall excellent condition, with 1/2 " x 1/16" stain, lower right, and specks to lower and left margin.