Thursday, March 3, 2016

Beauford Delaney's Montparnasse - Entrée to Black Paris' Newest Walking Tour

When I organized the Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color art exhibition at Columbia Global Centers | Paris at Reid Hall, I created a new Entrée to Black Paris walking tour to honor the artist.

Beauford Delaney
© Carl van Vechten 1953

Beauford moved to Paris in 1953 and died here in 1979. For the majority of these years, he lived in the historic artists' district called Montparnasse. The walk features his homes and haunts in the 6th and 14th arrondissements, and includes two sites that bear plaques commemorating him on their façades.

Mural - Théâtre de la Gaîte - Montparnasse
 © Discover Paris!

On the day after the exhibition's grand opening, I gave the tour for the first time to students from the University of Arizona and their professor, Dr. Bryan Carter. This group traveled to Paris for the purpose of creating an Augmented Reality app that allows exhibition attendees and owners of the exhibition catalog to access information and spoken word performances on the Internet that are associated with several of the works in the show.

Professor Bryan Carter (far right), University of Arizona students,
and Monique (front left)
© Discover Paris!

The second group to experience the tour consisted primarily of travelers from Beauford's hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Four of them represented the Knoxville Museum of Art, which has since expressed keen interest in hosting the exhibition during the spring and summer of 2017.

Knoxville group at Théâtre de Poche
© Discover Paris!

One of the participants remarked that it was very special for her to see Knoxville's name displayed on two façades in Paris!

Plaque at Hôtel Le M
© Discover Paris!

The following week, teachers attending the exhibition and participating in J Rêve International's Global Educator Program for professional development took the tour.

At Hôtel Le M
© J Rêve International

At Montparnasse Cemetery
© J Rêve International

Crossing boulevard du Montparnasse
© J Rêve International

Their mission in attending the exhibition was to learn about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education and to explore ways to incorporate the arts into teaching practices for their respective disciplines with Beauford's life and art serving as inspiration. For a full week, the group attended and participated in several conferences on these themes, including a meeting with the Fulbright Commission.

The exhibition was originally scheduled to run from February 4 to 29, 2016, but due to its tremendous success, it has been prolonged until March 15, 2016! Entry is free and registration is required to visit. To sign up for a visit, click here.

If you'd like to experience the Beauford Delaney's Montparnasse walking tour, send e-mail to

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Beauford Delaney
Rue Guilleminot
France 1973
© Errol Sawyer


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2 comments:

Ellen Lebelle said...

Cangratulations -- especially if you can take this beautiful exhibit on tour to the States!

About Beauford Delaney said...

Thank you Ellen!