Composition 16
Beauford Delaney
American, 1901–1979
1954-56
An exuberant oil painting in which Delaney layers thick, swirling brushwork and luminous yellow to translate an emotional, almost spiritual sensation of light.
Up close the surface is tactile—dense, looping impasto and scumbled bits of red, green, and blue—and from a step back it resolves into a glowing field of yellow that seems to vibrate and shimmer.
Made in the mid-1950s, this work places Delaney within postwar American abstraction, advancing a lyrical, light-focused approach that broadened Abstract Expressionism’s emotional and chromatic range.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
31 1/2 x 37" (80 x 94 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Committee on Painting and Sculpture Funds
Accession
1178.2012
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
