Portrait of James Baldwin
Beauford Delaney, American (active Paris), 1901 - 1979
Geography:
Made in United States, North and Central America
Date:
1945Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
22 × 18 inches (55.9 × 45.7 cm)Copyright:
Research inconclusive. Copyright may apply.Curatorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
1998-3-1Credit Line:
125th Anniversary Acquisition. Purchased with funds contributed by The Daniel W. Dietrich Foundation in memory of Joseph C. Bailey and with a grant from The Judith Rothschild Foundation, 1998
Made in United States, North and Central America
Date:
1945Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
22 × 18 inches (55.9 × 45.7 cm)Copyright:
Research inconclusive. Copyright may apply.Curatorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1998-3-1Credit Line:
125th Anniversary Acquisition. Purchased with funds contributed by The Daniel W. Dietrich Foundation in memory of Joseph C. Bailey and with a grant from The Judith Rothschild Foundation, 1998
Social Tags
1945 [x] 20th century [x] african american art [x] african american artists [x] authors [x] black figure [x] black subject [x] male figure [x] male portrait [x] modern [x] oil [x] oil on canvas [x] portrait [x]This iconic painting is a very early depiction of the famous writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, who was twenty-one when Delaney created this portrait. Closely cropped and vibrantly painted, it jumps out from the canvas, presenting an up-close encounter with the sitter. As in Delaney's self-portraits, he painted one eye slightly different from the other, a pictorial device also found in Pablo Picasso's paintings. Of the many portraits Delaney made of Baldwin, this one is among his most direct and expressive.