Romare Bearden was a prominent African American artist and writer who was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1911. He is best known for his collage paintings and prints, which often depicted scenes from African American life and culture. Bearden grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and spent much of his career there, making it an important location in his life and work.
Bearden's family moved to Pittsburgh when he was a child, and he attended public schools there before going on to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). After completing his studies, he worked as a graphic artist and writer in Pittsburgh, eventually establishing himself as a successful artist and writer in the city's thriving arts community.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Bearden's work was his use of collage. He was a master of this medium, using it to create complex and layered compositions that drew on a wide range of visual and textual sources. Bearden's collages often incorporated found objects and images, as well as paint and pencil, to create works that were both deeply personal and culturally relevant.
One of Bearden's most famous works, "The Block," was inspired by his childhood memories of the African American neighborhood in Pittsburgh where he grew up. This large-scale collage depicts the life and culture of this community in rich and vivid detail, capturing the energy and vibrancy of the neighborhood and its residents.
Bearden's work was also deeply influenced by his experiences as an African American in America. Throughout his career, he used his art as a way to explore and document the struggles and triumphs of black people in America, including the civil rights movement and the ongoing fight for racial justice.
In addition to his work as an artist and writer, Bearden was also an active member of the Pittsburgh arts community. He co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG) in St. Louis in 1968, and was a founding member of the Spiral Group, an organization of African American artists who sought to promote greater recognition and support for black artists in the United States.
Despite his many accomplishments and contributions to the arts, Bearden remained humble and dedicated to his craft. He continued to work and create until his death in 1988, leaving behind a rich legacy as one of the most important and influential African American artists of his time.
Exhibitions
The artist's father, Howard, was a sanitation inspector for the New York Health Department and was a renowned storyteller as well as an accomplished pianist, which influenced Romare's lifelong love of music. Both the National Urban League and the NAACP awarded him great honors. Bearden was influenced by Baptism on Zurbarán's painting The Virgin Protectress of the Carthusians. Bearden resided within the same building as the artist Jacob Lawrence and the novelist Claude McKay, who became tight friends with Bearden and showed a similar commitment to the arts and residents of Harlem in their art. And, when writing his own Piano Lesson 1990 , for which he won his second Pulitzer Prize, he likewise set the play in Pittsburgh, Bearden's childhood and teenage hometown. Wide-eyed, as a single unit, they peer out at the viewers.
Pittsburgh Memory by Romare Bearden (1)
Featuring an international group of artists,this exhibition captured, through more than 70 works, a pivotal time in the history of the development of the medium. The blues was an African-American musical creation, and there were many prominent female blues singers, such as Billie Holiday, during the postwar era. Cut-and-paste cloth and paper with synthetic polymer paint on composition - The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1971 The Block In this horizontally expansive work, Bearden pays tribute to Harlem, which was where he lived as a young teen as well as where he established his first studio in 1940 on 125 th Street, the heart of Harlem. As Bearden remarked, trains "could take you away and also bring you to where you were. Watercolor, pen, India ink, and pencil on paper - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1955 Blue Lady After a hiatus of several years in which he concentrated on composing music, Bearden re-emerged in the mid-1950s, displaying a more abstracted style of painting influenced by the Abstract Expressionists; Bearden had friendships with many of the key artists within this group.
Pittsburgh Memory by Romare Bearden
Award-winning playwright August Wilson was inspired by this work. Oil on canvas - Private Collection 1967 Summertime With collage, Bearden had a method that allowed him to integrate his life experiences more fully into his art. Deadly sharp stilettos, architecturally inspired wedges and platforms, and a number of artfully crafted shoes that defy categorization were featured among the selection of nearly 160 historical and contemporary heels on loan from designers, the renowned Brooklyn Museum costume collection housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bata Shoe Museum, and others. Martin where Nanette's ancestors had lived; in 1973, they built an island retreat there. Our city owes him a deep debt. In other works, it is a rooster that roots the story to agrarian toil.
Saving Romare Bearden's Pittsburgh Recollections
Bearden created dozens of artworks about jazz music, clubs, and performers. He lives in the neighborhood of Manchester, and he once milked a goat. Bearden was influenced by the Social Realists of the Great Depression, along with the Mexican Muralists such as Diego Rivera, who was well-established in New York City. Henry Clay Frick purchased Curran's 1890 painting Woman with a Horse and Carriage, which typically hangs in the Clayton library. Exhibition Tour Management by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. Louis Art Museum, St.
Pittsburgh Memories, 1984 by Romare Bearden
PITTSBURGH MEMORY BY ROMARE BEARDEN 2 Pittsburgh Memory by Romare Bearden A renowned American artist, Romare Bearden composed collages depicting the life of African-Americans. Yet, like so many hungry artists, Bearden had to find employment outside of his passions, and he became a caseworker for the NYC Department of Social Services. He used these collages to show his rejection of the In this series, one of the pieces is entitled Baptism. The Romare Bearden Foundation Romare Bearden as photographed in the 1940s, during his time in the U. This exhibition, drawn from the collection at the Kent State University Museum, features a range of costumes and fashions instrumental in shaping some of the most memorable characters portrayed on stage or screen by acclaimed actress Katharine Hepburn 1907-2003 , one of the most iconic stars of the 20th century.
