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Self-Portrait

A vividly colored self-portrait in oil paint by the artist Beauford Delaney. Delaney depicts himself using bold, thick strokes of paint. His skin tone is polychromatic and contrasted by a mustard yellow background. He wears a blue shirt with accents of red and bright red hat.

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  • A vividly colored self-portrait in oil paint by the artist Beauford Delaney. Delaney depicts himself using bold, thick strokes of paint. His skin tone is polychromatic and contrasted by a mustard yellow background. He wears a blue shirt with accents of red and bright red hat.

Date:

1944

Artist:

Beauford Delaney (American, 1901–1979)

About this artwork

Beauford Delaney offered a penetrating, uncompromising view of himself in this self-portrait. The artist used bold, thick strokes of paint in bright colors to render a portrayal of vibrant yet haunting intensity—seemingly capturing his psyche as well as his appearance—which could allude to his struggle for personal and public acceptance as a gay black man.

The son of a Tennessee preacher, Delaney studied art in Boston before settling in 1929 in New York, where he befriended artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock as well as writer James Baldwin, with whom he formed an especially deep, intellectual relationship of mutual inspiration and mentorship.

Status

On View, Gallery 262

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Beauford Delaney

Title

Self-Portrait

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1944

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed and inscribed recto, left-bottom, above figure's right shoulder, in blue pigment: "BEAUFORD DELANEY / 1944".

Dimensions

68.6 × 57.2 cm (27 × 22 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Alexander C. and Tillie S. Speyer Foundation; Samuel A. Marx Endowment

Reference Number

1991.27

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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