The Art of Romare Bearden

About this book

Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was one of Americas great artistic innovators blazing his own trail in a time of turbulent cultural change. While his work offers an invaluable view of mid-twentieth-century African-American experience it has also come to occupy a significant place in the wider history of American art and speaks to the universal concerns of artists everywhere. Born in North Carolina and coming of age in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance Bearden was surrounded from an early age by writers musicians artists and intellectuals who presided over an extraordinary period of creative ferment. With keen aesthetic sensitivity the insight of a philosopher and the courage of a pioneer Bearden absorbed images and ideas that he later wove into his colorful complex and imaginative art. His work is infused with the sounds intervals and rhythms of jazz and the blues; the majesty and mystery of popular religion and obscure ritual; echoes of European old master painting and African art; and the atmosphere of the places he loved. In addition to reproducing examples of Beardens well-known collages photostats and watercolors The Art of Romare Bearden includes paintings in gouache and oil murals book illustrations costume designs and his only known sculpture. Much of this art has been culled from private collections and is rarely seen. Fines definitive essay based on new research is accompanied by shorter essays on the artists European and African sources his own writings and contemporary criticism of his art.