Delaney Museum at Beck

10/11/2024

This Week in Black History: October 8-14 - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/this-week-in-black-history-october-8-14-vp06lph377

Highlighted Fact of the Week: Cal Johnson, highly successful Black entrepreneur in the 19th-century, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on October 14, 1844.

09/06/2024

This Week in Black History: September 1-7 - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/this-week-in-black-history-september-1-7-d6uxik6zg5

Fact of the Week: On September 4, 1865, twelve Black members of Second Presbyterian Church and one member from First Presbyterian church met and organized Shiloh Presbyterian Church. The church received its name a year later in 1866.

03/22/2024

This Week in Black History: March 22-26 - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/this-week-in-black-history-march-22-26-vwoc1y74mr

Highlighted Fact of the Week: Alfredda C. Delaney, born March 22, 1909, was a beloved Knoxville educator, community leader, and preservationist. A graduate of the Knoxville College Class of 1930, Delaney was also a lifelong member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Because of her tireless work in revitalizing the Mechanicsville community in which she was a resident, she was called "the honorary mayor of Mechanicsville."

02/23/2024

Artist Spotlight: Ruth Cobb Brice - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/artist-spotlight-ruth-cobb-brice-2024-black-history-month

Ruth Cobb Brice was an important contributor in the world of art and in our history. Born in Knoxville in 1899, Brice was an artist, author, and educator for nearly 50 years. She was the first Black artist in Knoxville to join the Knoxville Watercolor Society in 1968 and the first Black female author (under her author pseudonym, Rachel Jane McKinney) to publish a book in Knoxville, a volume of poetry titled “The Wrong Slant."

09/01/2023

This Week in Black History: September 1-7 - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/this-week-in-black-history-september-1-7-r6khdpu72d

Featured Image: William F. Yardley (January 8, 1844 - May 20, 1924), Knoxville attorney and politician.

On September 2, 1876, William F. Yardley entered himself into the race as the Independent candidate for Governor of Tennessee. The news sent a shock wave throughout the state. For the first time, a Black man had taken the initiative to campaign for a position that had historically been held by white men only.

06/23/2023

This Week in Black History: June 22-25 - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/the-eighth-of-august-2023-emmett-till

Featured Image: American track star and gold medalist Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) posed at an athletics track in October 1960. (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images)

06/02/2023

This Week in Black History: June 1-7 - June 7, 2023 celebrates the 80th birthday of Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, Jr., poet, writer, educator, and activist who is regarded as one of the most renowned American poets in the world. Born to Jones "Gus" Giovanni and Yolande Cornelia Watson, Sr. in Knoxville in 1943, Giovanni attended Austin High School starting in 1958 and is a member of the class of 1961 https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/this-week-in-black-history-june-1-7-8rpmr44y8v

05/26/2023

Featured Story of May: Delia Delaney, Beloved Matriarch of the Delaney Family (1865-1958). Delia was a woman of grace, discipline, and loved her family immensely. An artist in her own right, she encourgaed both of her sons, Beauford and Joseph Delaney to pursue their passion for art. She would appear in Beauford's repertoire of work several times throughout his career.

Also, This Week in Black History: May 22-32. Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock 'N' Roll, passed away yesterday at 83. - https://mailchi.mp/beckcenter/delia-delaney-beloved-matriarch-of-the-delaney-family

01/06/2022

Always great to see Beauford Delaney recognized in Knoxville. Beautiful work!

- "Yaddo" by Beauford Delaney
Located at East Hill Avenue at Hall of Fame Drive

Internationally acclaimed modern artist Beauford Delaney was born in 1901 in a small wooden house on Knoxville’s East Vine Street. Beauford always loved to draw, even in school. As a teenager, he found work as a sign painter and impressed Lloyd Branson, Knoxville’s most successful artist of the time. Branson offered to give him lessons in painting in return for mixing paints and helping out in the Gay Street studio. Working for Branson helped pay Beauford’s way to Boston, where he studied art from 1923-1929.

Settling in New York by 1929, Delaney became known for colorful street scenes of Greenwich Village and notable portraits including Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In 1930, when Delaney was still in his 20s, the Whitney Studio Galleries (precursor of the Whitney Museum of American Art) in New York presented a small one-person exhibition of his work that received critical acclaim.

In 1953, Delaney moved to Paris and explored Abstract Expressionism and, as his friend James Baldwin wrote, it was “a metamorphosis into freedom.” Delaney’s exuberant oils with vibrant colors have earned him a reputation as one of America’s greatest modern painters.

Beauford Delaney died in Paris in 1979. The largest and most comprehensive public collection of Delaney’s work is housed at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

11/30/2021

This , consider supporting our efforts to honor, preserve, and promote the legacy of the Delaney family in the only surviving ancestral home of famous artists Beauford and Joseph Delaney.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=wPVibiegkjd8-rxdw_Czef_EM5z5KENSSWsrXKGvMJ-3ES65gwBNRUn80UJBHq6JGHXGowCBIbtxDfJR