Beck Cultural Exchange Center celebrating life of famous Black Knoxville artist

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The Beck Cultural Exchange Center in Knoxville is celebrating the life of the city’s most famous artist as part of Black History Month.

“Beauford Delaney is, today, considered one of the greatest abstract artists of the 20th century,” said Rev. Renee Kesler, president of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center.

Delaney was born in 1901 and lived in a home on East Vine Avenue with his family.

“Very, very poor family,” said Kesler. “His father was a circuit preacher. His mother was the inspiration to encourage children to pursue their art.”

Delaney migrated north from Knoxville to further his training and became part of the great Harlem Renaissance. He spent the last decades of his life in Paris, France.

Kesler showed WVLT News Delaney’s unfinished portrait of Rosa Parks, currently being held in the center’s archives.

The oil portrait shows Parks sitting firmly on a bench. With folded hands, she looks unmovable.

“Rosa Parks took a stand by sitting,” said Kesler. “She made a courageous decision on that day. My guess is it wasn’t the first day she thought about it. It’s the time history wrote about it. But when I see it, I know that the fight in her on that bench or on that bus or on that seat is really something that was already in her.”

The oil canvas was donated to the Beck Cultural Exchange Center by Charles and Nancy Wagner in honor of his mother.

Kesler said it will eventually become part of the new Delaney Museum Beck is working to create.

The Knoxville native died in Paris in 1979. His work grew in popularity since his death. It is sought after by some of the most famous museums in the world.

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