Sep 10, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8 PM

To Move in Light: Literary Offerings to Beauford Delaney

Join us for a program moderated by writer and art critic Jessica Lynne on the occasion of In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney. This evening will feature literary responses from poet Najee Omar, writer and musician Justin Allen, and writer and theologian Joe Tolbert Jr, whose practices each reflect a multivalent approach to storytelling and world building. Together, this chorus of writers will explore elements of Delaney's life and work, offering multiple insights into how his resilient spirit manifested in both his art and the broader context of his life.

Justin Allen

Justin Allen works in music and sound, performance, visual art, and writing. He has been commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Shed, and ISSUE Project Room and received support from Franklin Furnace, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. He received his BA in literary studies from Eugene Lang College at The New School and his MFA in sculpture from Yale School of Art. In 2022 he released a four-song EP, Ekphrastic Punk, with his band Black Boots. In the fall of 2024, he released his first book, Language Arts, published by Wendy’s Subway.
Beauford Delaney

Beauford Delaney holds a place in the history of American art of the postwar period that is challenging to define. Born in 1901 in Knoxville, Tennessee, he grew up in the segregated South and studied fine art at the Massachusetts Normal School in Boston in the late 1920s. By 1929, he had moved to New York, where he continued his artistic practice at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, producing realistic portraits and cubist-inflected street scenes of the Greenwich Village neighborhood where he lived. In 1953, at the urging of his friend, James Baldwin, Delaney moved to Paris, the city where he would spend the rest of his life. In Paris, Delaney drew and painted portraits, while at the same time, he developed an all-over calligraphic abstract painting style. For two decades, he painted abstract and figurative works simultaneously, sometimes combining both languages by inserting barely visible figures into abstract compositions, or by working up backgrounds full of abstract incidence that often competed with the fully realized portraits embedded within them. Delaney produced drawings from the beginning of his career in the early 1920s in Knoxville, until his mental illness prevented him from continuing in the early 1970s. Although he rarely drew preparatory sketches, his works on paper closely followed techniques and motifs he used in his paintings.
Joe Tolbert Jr.

Joe Tolbert Jr. is a cultural strategist, facilitator, minister, writer, and advocate working at the intersection of art, culture, spirituality, and social justice. Joe leads initiatives that expand opportunities for artists and cultural practitioners while advocating for sustainable investment in the arts. His personal experiences, including the tragic loss of a loved one to police violence, shaped his understanding of art as a vehicle for healing, justice, and systemic change. Today, his work continues to center on fostering innovation, securing equitable access to resources, and empowering artists to drive cultural growth across Appalachia and the South. His strategic leadership continues to position Appalachia and the South as hubs for artistic excellence and creative resilience, ensuring artists and cultural practitioners have the support, visibility, and resources necessary to shape the future of the region.
Jessica Lynne

Jessica Lynne is a writer and art critic. She is a founding editor of ARTS.BLACK, an online journal of art criticism from Black perspectives. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Artforum, The Believer, Frieze, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and Oxford American, where she is a contributing editor. She is the recipient of a 2020 Research and Development award from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, a 2020 Arts Writer Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation, and the inaugural Beverley Art Writers Travel Grant awarded in 2022 by the American Australian Association. Her writing has been supported by Art Omi, Tin House, and The Carolyn Moore Writers House. Jessica holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has taught writing and lectured at institutions such as Colorado College, Northwestern University, The New School, and Yale School of Art.
Najee Omar

Najee Omar is a writer, performance artist, and organizer whose work lives at the crossroads of poetry, theater, and community. His writing—equal parts raw and lyrical—imagines a world where Black queer love is deeply seen and celebrated.

As a poet, his work appears in Poet Lore Magazine and the anthology That’s a Pretty Thing to Call It. As a playwright, he developed his debut stage play, Little Black Book, through residencies with SPACE on Ryder Farm and Hi-ARTS. He’s currently a 2025 Learning 2 Love Fellow, creating a new play inspired by a queer elder’s life.

Najee also designs public art and storytelling programs in partnership with institutions like BAM, The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, and The Met. He was named a Fort Greene Community Hero and serves on the board of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy.

When he’s not creating, he’s riding his bike, getting lost in music, or catching up on Real Housewives. Najee lives and loves in Brooklyn.

https://najeeomar.com/

In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney is made possible by Lonti Ebers, Agnes Gund, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, Alice and Tom Tisch, and Isabel Stainow Wilcox.

Special thanks to Michael Rosenfeld Gallery for their support and the Estate of Beauford Delaney for their cooperation in the organization of the exhibition.