What a book! What a story! What amazing art! Joseph Delaney was born in Knoxville in 1904, the son of a Methodist minister who was a traveling minister serving East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia until 1915, and then returned to Knoxville. Joseph dropped out of school in the 9th grade and held a series of menial jobs and got into trouble with alcohol and the law. In 1922, at the age of 18. he left Knoxville and traveled around the country often jumping trains for transportation. In 1930 he settle in Greenwich Village on Manhattan Island. Fortunately, he entered the Art Students League under the tutelage of Thomas Hart Benton, the illustrious muralist. In 1986 he returned to Knoxville, accepting a position as visiting artist in the University of Tennessee's Art Department. He lived in Knoxville the remainder of his life. "This book is an important contribution to the study of African American art and of American art in the twentieth century. It makes use of previously unexamined papers, interviews, and works of art and does so with originality and skill." - David Leeming The author, Frederick C. Moffatt, is professor emeritus of art at the University of Tennessee. He is the author of several books and articles.
Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2009. 305 pages with an Index, Selected Bibliography, Notes and 96 illustrations, mostly of paintings by Delaney.