MICHAEL ROSENFELD GALLERY, NEW YORK
MARCH 2016 THIS MONTH’S CULTURAL AGENDA
DAT E B O OK
“in recent yearsthere has been an
extraordinary amount of attention on several
African-American abstract painters, like
Alma Thomas and Norman Lewis,” says
Halley K. Harrisburg, director of Michael
Rosenfeld Gallery, which brings a solo
presentation of paintings by Beauford Delaney
to the 28th edition of the Art Show. Organized
by the Art Dealers Association of America
(adaa), the show runs March 2 through 6 at
the Park Avenue Armory, with 72 participants.
While the gallery deals exclusively
in Delaney’s secondary market, it has longchampioned his work and has seen evolving
critical and curatorial interest accompanied
by slow and steady growth in the market-
place. “When Michael Rosenfeld i rst opened,
in 1989, people were mostly interested
in Delaney’s earlier, Expressionist depictions
of New York or his portraits,” explains
Harrisburg. “But now there is equal interest
in his representational and abstract output.”
Nearly 15 pieces by Delaney—early i gurative
paintings to later abstractions, including
Reve, circa 1959, detail pictured above—are
included in the gallery’s survey presentation.“It was really courageous for African-
American artists of Delaney’s generation
to be abstract painters,” Harrisburg continues.
“They faced pressure from both the black
and white communities to paint the black
narrative as Jacob Lawrence and Romare
Bearden did. To abandon representation—
and specii cally representation of the African-
American experience—took extraordinary
bravery, but for artists like Delaney it was in
their soul. They were abstract painters and it is
very gratifying to see that they are now being
accepted as abstract painters.” —SARA ROFFINOAbstraction in Focus
NEW YORK29
BLOUINARTINFO.COM | MARCH 2016 ART+AUCTION