Artist Profile

Romare Bearden 1911-1988

Romare Bearden’s life encompasses a wide range of endeavors in addition to his huge artistic talent, including music, performing arts, history and literature as well as a strong and lifelong support of emerging artists. Born in Charlotte, NC, he attended Lincoln University, then Boston University and completed his studies at New York University. During these college days, Bearden published several texts on social and artistic issues. His professional career actually started when he became an editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Afro-American, which he continued until 1937.

Once he joined the Harlem Artists Guild, Bearden started a lifelong study of art. He was inspired by a wide range of artists but credited the most influence to Duccio, Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse as well as the African art he saw in the masks and textiles. Some influence and inspiration from Byzantine mosaics, Japanese prints and Chinese landscape paintings can also be seen in his work.

In the early days of his art career, Bearden also worked as a social worker in New York City, painting only at night or on weekends. But in 1940 – at his first public showing – art became the central focus of his life. His works have been shown in the United States and Europe and include collages, watercolors, oils, photomontages (some of his most famous work) and prints. Literature, jazz music and his past experiences in North Carolina and Harlem play heavily in his work.

In the early 1940’s Bearden traveled extensively in Europe, living in Paris for a while, and developed his semi-abstract collage style. Back in the U.S., through the late 40’s to the 60’s, his style evolved so that he became regarded as the preeminent collagist in the U.S.

Bearden married Nanette Rohan, a Caribbean native, in 1954. They had a second home in the Caribbean and the color and lush island landscapes influenced many of his works after that time. His close association with intellectuals, painters and musicians—such as Joan Miró, Duke Ellington, James Baldwin and Jacob Lawrence—gave him experiences that influenced an entirely different perspective. Because of his intellectual eloquence, Bearden was appointed as the first art director of the Harlem Cultural Council in 1964 – an influential African-American advocacy group. He also was a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970.

Romare Bearden is recognized as one of the most creative visual artists of the twentieth century. He experienced a prolific and distinguished career. His experimentation into different art forms and styles helped make him well known, but it is his richly textured collages for which he may be best known. These collages used photography and paint in ways that held the viewer in awe. But art was not his only interest and through working with his wife Nanette, he created theatrical set designs as well as costuming and programming.

Even with all the associates, accomplishments and recognition, Bearden was still a self-conscious person. His works depict a man tied to a larger “community,” although he did not seek fame. His painterly depiction involving social issues shows his closeness to that community.
 

The artwork of Romare Bearden is now featured on a set of four Forever stamps by the U.S Postal Service.  Bearden is celebrated for his groundbreaking approach to collage along with his work in watercolors, oils and other media.  The four collages depicted on the stamps include Conjunction (1971), Odysseus:  Poseidon, The Sea God—Enemy of Odysseus (1977), Prevalence of Ritual:  Conjur Woman (1964) and Falling Star (1979).

Exhibition

Impressions & Improvisations:  The Prints of Romare Bearden includes more than 70 collagraphs, etchings, aquatints, lithographs, screenprints, photo projections and monotypes created during a period of 30 years. It represents his extraordinary versatility and openness to experimentation, which is especially true of the collages for which he is best known, but also applies equally to his prints.   Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, through Jan. 8.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 22, No. 2 — December 2011