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Beauford Delaney, Can Fire in the Park, 1946, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (61.0 x 76.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1989.23
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Can Fire in the Park
- Artist
- Date
- 1946
- Location
- Dimensions
- 24 x 30 in. (61.0 x 76.2 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure group
- Landscape — park
- State of being — other — poverty
- Object Number
- 1989.23
Artwork Description
Can Fire in the Park is as much a swirling vignette of thickly applied paint as it is an image of a place. Delaney developed a vocabulary of signs -- streetlights, fire hydrants, manhole covers, and zigzagging fire escapes -- that became emblematic riffs on city life. In Can Fire, the bright yellow orbs of streetlamps and the glow of the moon against a cloud-filled night sky and hear from the fire embrace the men with waves of color and light. Delaney struggled financially for most of his life, so this empathetic scene may also represent a night he once spent on a park bench and the amity he shared with other homeless men.
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012
Exhibitions
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world.