Marian Anderson (Primary Title)
Beauford Delaney, American, 1901 - 1979 (Artist)
Delaney painted this iconic portrait of the acclaimed contralto Marian Anderson, whose operatic talent and integrity inspired a generation. In this “memory” portrait—produced in Paris but with an awareness of the civil rights struggles underway in the United States—Delaney expressed his ongoing admiration for Anderson’s sensitive brilliance as a performer and person. The visual harmony of the work epitomizes his exploration of painterly abstractions, with the color yellow symbolizing perfection and transcendence.
Modern; Civil Rights
Signed and dated, lower left: Beauford Delaney 1965
Signed "Beauford Delaney. 1965" in red paint in lower left corner of image.
J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
"Edges of Ailey", Whitney Museum of American Art, September 25, 2024 - February 9, 2025
Beauford Delaney, Marian Anderson (Cochrane Fund, 2012.277) to Nelson-Atkins Museum as a reciprocal loan to their permanent galleries in exchange for an artwork by Charles White, on loan to Storied Strings, Art of the American Guitar. September 2022 - August 2023.
"One Life: Marian Anderson", Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, June 28, 2019 - May 17, 2020.
Collecting for the Commonwealth Preserving for the Nation, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1919-2018, Winter Antiques Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, NY, January 18 - 26, 2018.
The Art of Music, The San Diego Museum of Art, September 26, 2015 - February 7, 2016 (not lent to the second venue, Mexico City).
Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Anacostia Museum and Center for African History and Culture; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2002-2003
Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1978
Beauford Delaney, Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, 1973
Beauford Delaney, Marian Anderson (Cochrane Fund, 2012.277) to Nelson-Atkins Museum as a reciprocal loan to their permanent galleries in exchange for an artwork by Charles White, on loan to Storied Strings, Art of the American Guitar. September 2022 - August 2023.
"One Life: Marian Anderson", Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, June 28, 2019 - May 17, 2020.
Collecting for the Commonwealth Preserving for the Nation, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1919-2018, Winter Antiques Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, NY, January 18 - 26, 2018.
The Art of Music, The San Diego Museum of Art, September 26, 2015 - February 7, 2016 (not lent to the second venue, Mexico City).
Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Anacostia Museum and Center for African History and Culture; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2002-2003
Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1978
Beauford Delaney, Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, 1973
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.