Learn

Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden was a master of the technique known as collage A work of art where various materials, such as bits of paper, fabric, photographs, and found objects, are arranged and glued to a flat surface. .


© Bearden, Romare. Mother and Child. 1971, collage on paperboard. Image "Romare Bearden: Mother and Child, 1971" by the Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. See larger version of Mother and Child here.

Born in 1911 in North Carolina, Bearden moved with his family to Harlem, New York, in 1914. Harlem would become known as the center of an African American cultural and literary movement known as the Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance was a time period during the 1920s and 1930s when there was a boom in African American writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars..


© Bearden, Romare. Spring Way. 1964, collage on paperboard. Image "Romare Bearden: Spring Way, 1964" by the Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. See larger version of Spring Way here.

Bearden grew up knowing and learning from some of the great African American artists of the Harlem Renaissance, including Duke EllingtonAn African-American jazz musician who is considered one of the greatest jazz composers and was the originator of big-band jazz and Langston Hughes An African-American writer, poet, and playwright who wrote extensively about the African-American experience . Besides New York University, Bearden attended both the Art Students League of New York and the Sorbonne in Paris. He would become a great voice in the artistic world, not only as a visual artist, but also as a writer.


© Bearden, Romare. Village Square. 1969, collage on paperboard. Image "Romare Bearden: Village Square, 1969" by the Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. See larger version of Village Square here.

See additional works by Bearden below.


© Bearden, Romare. New Orleans: Ragging Home. 1974, collage on Masonite panel, North Carolina Museum of Art. Image from Corbis, 2006, via Discovery Education Streaming.



© Romare Bearden. Poseidon, the Sea God—Enemy of Odysseus. 1977, collage on fiberboard, The Thompson Collection. Image from Corbis, 2006, via Discovery Education Streaming.

Bearden enjoyed creating memories of past events, family scenes, and favorite places in his art works. Let's take a closer look at one of his famous collages, titled Family. Take a few minutes studying this well-known Bearden art work, shown below.


© Bearden, Romare. Family. 1986, collage on wood. Image "Romare Bearden: Family, 1986" by the Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. See larger version of Family here.

You are explore more of Romare Bearden's works here:

 

Back Button