Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Delaney, Joseph |
Title |
Vine and Central, Knoxville, Tennessee |
Medium |
Oil, pastel, and charcoal on canvas |
Date |
1940 |
Description |
Joseph Delaney (Knoxville 1904-1991 Knoxville) Vine and Central, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1940 Oil, pastel, and charcoal on canvas 30 x 24 inches Knoxville Museum of Art, 2018 purchase with funds provided by KMA Collectors Circle, Rachael Patterson Young Art Acquisition Reserve, Nancy and Charlie Wagner, and Richard Jansen The son of a circuit preacher, Joseph Delaney and his family were on the move across East Tennessee almost constantly during his early childhood. They finally settled near Knoxville's Vine and Central intersection in an ethnically diverse, densely packed and lively neighborhood (largely erased as part of the city's urban renewal projects of the 1960s). Littered with taverns and bordellos, it was a place in which the segregated town's races and classes rubbed shoulders. Restless by nature, Joseph Delaney left Knoxville and lived a vagabond's life during much of the 1920s. He worked odd jobs and slept on the train or in hobo camps. By 1930, he had made his way to New York and pursued training with esteemed Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League alongside a group of classmates that included famed Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. Delaney began earning much-needed income and gaining exposure as a self-professed street "sketch artist," rendering his subjects in lively fashion using quick contours. He eventually established a studio practice in Manhattan, where he became known as a tireless and prolific painter of the local urban scene. Over the span of his 60-year career, Delaney displayed a remarkable ability to express the city's vitality using bold spontaneous brushwork without sacrificing narrative content. Painted while the artist was living in Manhattan, Vine and Central, Knoxville, Tennessee represents Delaney's fond recollection of the bustling intersection near his childhood home. The festive parade scene features an integrated crowd gathered to watch minstrels from the Al G. Field troupe as they perform outside H. Bloom & Co., a grocery store located at 144 S. Central Street that was in operation from the late nineteenth century until around 1935. In 1986, Delaney moved back to Knoxville, where he served as artist-in-residence at University of Tennessee until his death in 1991. |
Catalog Number |
2018.10.01 |
Search Terms |
Streets Paintings Canvas Oil paintings Street musicians Street entertainers Musical instruments Musicians Parties |
Credit line |
purchase with funds provided by KMA Collectors Circle, Rachael Patterson Young Art Acquisition Reserve, Nancy and Charlie Wagner, and Richard Jansen |