Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man), 1928

This profile completes the few portraits in circulation from Beauford’s Boston years. The young man depicted is illustrated with his back and neck slightly hunched, his gaze downward. The squint in his eye and the active movement in the pencil marks on his face give the impression that he is focusing intently on something.

An important observation is that every one of Beauford’s profiles features the left side of the sitter’s face. Studies in profile portraits show that the viewer’s recognition of facial features recognition is quicker when the left side of the subject’s face is represented. Emotions are also more readable in left- facing profiles. With this in mind, one wonders whether viewers would discern the level of intensity present in this young man’s face if Beauford had drawn his right profile.

The Knoxville Museum of Art believes it is very likely that the subject of this portrait is James Agee, a writer who was a fellow Knoxvillian and in attendance at Harvard at the time of the drawing’s production. Agee’s uncle was Hugh Tyler, an artist who taught Beauford and who helped him financially through his studies for a time. Agee was a lively and vibrant soul who had a penchant for Lenten hymns, which evoked memories from his upbringing in Anglo-Catholicism. It is possible that Beauford and Agee bonded over burgeoning artistic careers, along with their love of religious music.