Life in the City: The Art of Joseph Delaney

Aug. 23 – Sept. 27, 2006
Curated by Sam Yates
Organized by the Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee

Joseph Delaney (1904 – 1991) was born in Knoxville, Tenn. After growing up in Knoxville and living in Chicago and Knoxville as a young adult, he moved to New York City in 1930 near the end of the Harlem Renaissance. He lived there for more than 50 years. Joseph Delaney’s work focuses on people, buildings, parades, and other aspects of life in the city. Committed to representation, his work is figurative and pictorial, in ways that expressively capture people, events and the atmosphere of mid-century life in New York. This exhibition is the first major exhibition of the work of Joseph Delaney since his death. Recognized but never celebrated during his life, Delaney is now represented in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others.

The exhibition has been expanded for Bucknell and will include several more paintings, and a number of additional portrait drawings. The drawings will be installed salon-style in the Project Room.

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