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Greene Street
Beauford Delaney (American, 1901–1979)
1940
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
57.2 x 44.5 cm (22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The John Axelrod Collection—Frank B. Bemis Fund, Charles H. Bayley Fund, and The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession Number2011.1824
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsPaintings
Delaney first studied art in Boston. In 1929, he moved to New York, settling in Soho in 1936 at 181 Greene Street. Many of his cityscapes are abstractions of street signs, traffic lights, and directional arrows. Delaney’s compositions are comparable to those of his white friend Stuart Davis, with whom he also shared a love of jazz music. Davis’s works can be seen in gallery 334.
InscriptionsLower right: BEAUFORD DELANEY/1940
ProvenanceBy 1991, Collection of Lawrence Hilton; by 1993, with Kenkeleba House, Inc., New York; December 1993, sold by Kenkeleba House, Inc. to John Axelrod, Boston; 2011 sold by Axelrod to the MFA. (Accession date: June 22, 2011)
CopyrightEstate of Beauford Delaney, by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator