Beauford Delaney (American, 1901-1979) oil and acrylic on canvasboard abstract still life composition. Signed and dated lower left “Beauford Delaney 1976”. Artist’s name of artist and date of work also en verso. Housed in a burnished wood frame with beaded rabbet edge. Sight – 13 7/8″ H x 19 5/8″ W. Framed – 19 5/8″ H x 25 5/8″ W. Provenance: Private South Carolina collection, originally purchased from the Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. Biography: 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. It was when he moved to Paris in 1953 that his work transitioned from figurative compositions to Abstract Expressionism with a focus on color and light. In 1975, he was admitted to a mental hospital in Paris. He died in 1979, one year after his first major retrospective exhibit, held at the Studio Museum in Harlem. CONDITION: Light overall grime, brown specks lower left quadrant, light cracquelure to paint upper left quadrant. 2″ circular stain en verso. Minor abrasions to top and back corners of frame.