The
work of Romare Bearden
embodies the black
experience in 20th-century
America. The influences
which inspired Bearden
throughout his lifetime
were many and varied. He
grew up in New York
during the Harlem
Renaissance in a
household regularly
visited by jazz greats
like Duke Ellington and
Fats Waller. He went on
to make his name in the
art world, showing his
works with Robert
Motherwell, William
Baziotes and Carl Holty
in the 1940s; he had a
career in songwriting in
the 1950s but then
turned almost
exclusively to creating
collages, his
inspiration being music,
Southern life and black
culture.
Bearden's technique
was time-consuming, yet
effective. He created
his collages on masonite
boards which were laid
flat on a work table
surrounded by scraps of
paper, various oils and
temperas, inks,
synthetic polymer paints
and brushes. Romare
Bearden presented black
life on a grand and epic
scale in a style that
was vibrant and poignant.
He was also the
recipient of the Medal
of the State of North
Carolina and the
National Medal of the
Arts.
