THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT OF BEAUFORD DELANEY

 
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This 1941 portrait of celebrated author James Baldwin, entitled “Dark Rapture,” is one of numerous masterworks created by the equally celebrated Harlem Renaissance artist Beauford Delaney (1902-1979). Delaney (whose brother Joseph, 1904-1991, was also an accomplished artist) enjoyed a remarkable career that spanned some five decades. That he was a visual artist whose creative aesthetics profoundly influenced the work of a major literary artist like James Baldwin is one indicator of how powerfully charged the creative energy of the Harlem Renaissance truly was.

Aberjhani
Co-author of ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
And the author of I MADE MY BOY OUT OF POETRY

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