Beauford Delaney ...

... was a brilliant painter during the Harlem Renaissance. I went to see his show at the Drawing Center. He was black, gay, poor and an alcoholic with mental health issues. Yet, he painted gorgeous portraits, cityscapes and abstract paintings before the Abstract Impressionist movement.  He was a great friend of Baldwin, Miller, O’Keefe, Stieglitz and other important artists of his time. I admire his dogged persistence and saddened by the homophobia and racism he encountered during his life.