Often painted from memory and incisively capturing aspects of a sitter’s emotional life, Beauford Delaney’s portraits at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery feel strikingly immediate. Showcasing 25 portraits and 7 abstractions from the artist’s Greenwich Village days to his decades in Paris, the exhibition’s highlights demonstrate how (as the gallery puts it in a handout), “the physical description of the sitter is secondary to their psychological essence.” Here, in a portrait titled ‘Untitled (Young English Lieutenant),’ the tones of Delaney’s multi-colored background direct our eyes towards a vivid encounter with a young Englishman. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 13th. Masks and proof of vaccination are required.)
