Dans la ville (In the City) panel discussion
L to R: Amadou Gaye, Laurence Choko,
Christiane Falgayrettes Leveau,
Kévi Donat (moderator), and Monique Y. Wells
A groundbreaking exhibition opened at the Centre Pompidou museum in Paris, France on March 19, 2025.
It is called Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950-2000.
Paris Noir catalog cover
Beauford Delaney’s work is prominently featured in this show.
Indeed, his Street Scene, 1968 is the first painting visitors see when they enter the exhibition space.
View of Room 1 of Paris Noir from entrance
Fourteen (14) Beauford Delaney paintings grace the walls of this extraordinary exhibition, which features the works of 150 artists from Africa and the African diaspora.
Four of the Delaney paintings, including the masterful self-portrait held by the Whitney Museum of American Art, are in the Room 2 of the show.
Auto-portrait
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image of portrait © Entrée to Black Paris
Works by numerous women artists are being shown in the exhibition. They include a quilt by Faith Ringgold, the woman WIF honored as Legendary Artist for our COVID 19 PAGES – The Influence & Inspiration of Women online exhibition.
Among the many gatherings organized by the museum for the opening week of the show was a two-day colloquium that brought together scholars from both sides of the Atlantic.
On Day 2, WIF Founder & CEO Dr. Monique Y. Wells (pictured at the far right in the featured image at the top of this post) was one of four panelists who spoke on the topic of “In the City” – a discussion of the geography of Paris and the places where Black artists lived, created, exhibited, and socialized.
Dr. Wells presented “Paris Places and Spaces,” a talk through which she explained her method for developing meaningful walking tours for Entrée to Black Paris (WIF’s partner in the ETBP Cultural Awareness Program) and shared information about the three tours she created about African-American artists in Paris.
Two of these tours feature artist Beauford Delaney.
Dr. Monique Y. Wells presenting “Paris Places and Spaces”
Click HERE to watch Dr. Wells tell the story of how she came to found the French nonprofit organization, Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, and WIF because of her research about Delaney (begin watching at 7:26 minutes).
To learn more about Paris Noir, click HERE.
