Beauford Delaney (c) 1953 Carl van Vechten
Paris, France – Houston-born Monique Y. Wells is a 17½ year resident of Paris, France. A freelance writer, she was investigating African-American burial places in and around Paris in July 2009 for an article that she was writing when she discovered something disturbing – one of America’s finest 20th century painters had been laid to rest in an unmarked grave.
The artist concerned is Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), a figurative and abstract expressionist painter from Knoxville, Tennessee who moved to Paris in 1953. He would create some of his greatest abstractions during “the Paris years,” even as mental illness slowly eroded his quality of life. He would die intestate in a psychiatric institution in Paris. His great friend James Baldwin wanted him buried at Montparnasse Cemetery – the closest cemetery to the area in which Delaney lived most of his life in Paris and the final resting place of numerous famous artists. But finances would only allow a burial at the more modest Parisian cemetery of Thiais, in the Paris suburb of the same name.
Wells knew that Delaney was buried somewhere near Paris, and contacted a colleague whom she believed could give her the location of Delaney’s grave. He informed her that Delaney’s remains might have been exhumed. Per French custom, fees for gravesites must be paid at regular intervals—or the remains of the deceased will be exhumed and either placed in a common grave, or cremated and scattered in a special garden. Several friends of Beauford had discovered that his fees (concession in French) had not been paid since 1981.
Wells phoned the cemetery to inquire about the status of the burial place, and having been assured that Delaney’s remains were still safely in the ground, she went to the cemetery to see the gravesite for herself. She found an ill-kept, unmarked grave in Division 86, a space that was largely covered by tall weeds. She reported the condition of the grave to her colleague, who had been a close personal friend of Delaney. After a series of communications with him and with other friends of Delaney, Wells felt that the least she could do for this well-loved and respected man was to help keep his remains interred as long as possible. Delaney’
Wells did not stop there. She founded a non-profit association called Les Amis de Beauford Delaney and is now spearheading a fundraising drive to purchase a tombstone for Delaney’s gravesite. The association is seeking to raise $8500 to cover the cost of the construction and installation of the tombstone, one year of maintenance of the gravesite, concession fees for the ten year period beginning in 2011, and miscellaneous expenses such as banking fees and postage. Its goal is to raise this entire amount by 26 March 2010, the 31st anniversary of Delaney’s death.
Those persons who wish to contribute to the preservation of the Beauford Delaney gravesite should contact Wells at amisdebeauford@
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
