Beauford Delaney was born in 1901 in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the early 1920s, he moved to Boston to study art, and also became interested in Black activist politics and ideals as he associated with prominent African-American figures in Boston. He moved to New York in 1929 at the time of the Harlem Renaissance, living in both Harlem and in Greenwich Village. In New York, Delaney tended to depict urban life in vibrant color, often painting portraits of musicians and jazz clubs, as well as turning an eye to the poverty wrought by the Great Depression. In the early 1930’s, he moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. Although he consistently painted figurative works, many of his later works are abstracted or fully abstract. Whether abstract or figurative, Delaney’s works maintain the same energy and vibrancy.