Delaney was associated with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s. After spending the first half of his career in New York, painting vividly colored portraits and street scenes, he moved to Paris permanently in 1953. There he began experimenting with abstraction. By the end of the decade, he had elaborated a style characterized by swirling brushstrokes of luminous colors, conveying a strong feeling of light and rhythm. In the words of his friend James Baldwin, "Beauford's paintings underwent a most striking metamorphosis into freedom." Perhaps inspired by Baroque ceiling paintings seen during a trip to Italy, this gouache, with its underlayers of yellow peering through animated strokes of pale blue and purple, suggests light shining from a world beyond.
Signed and dated at lower right, Beauford Delaney 59.