Romare Bearden - Redefining African American Art

By Anna Maria Niederlander 

A multi-faceted and multi-talented human, Romare Bearden was an artist and a songwriter who worked for the military, got a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, and also studied philosophy. Born in 1912 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden moved to New York City at a young age. His mother worked as editor of The Chicago Defender newspaper, as well as being the first president of the Negro Women's Democratic Association. This impacted his upbringing greatly. In the 1920s, in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, Bearden’s family apartment in Harlem became a frequent gathering spot for intellectuals, artists and musicians. In 1935, he graduated with a mathematics degree. Yet, in the same year, Bearden started to pursue a career as an artist, joining both the Harlem Artists Guild and the 306 Group, an informal group of black artists in Harlem. However, as he was struggling to make an impact in the world of art, Bearden worked as a caseworker and served in the army from 1942 to 1945. 

Romare Bearden, He is Risen (1945) http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/34453/

In 1946, Bearden was finally granted a solo exhibition, titled “Passion of Christ.” He is Risen (1945), was part of this show and depicts Christ’s resurrection. The colours are bold, while the tangled black lines move organically to create a sense of movement and dynamism. It appears almost as if Christ is powerfully lifting up his arms. The cubist influence is seen in the multiple planes of the composition, which create the same effect as that of stained-glass windows. Christ’s face moreover takes inspiration from African sculpture, revealing Bearden’s diverse influences. Below Christ, two further figures are depicted laying on the floor vertically. Their faces, seen in the lower left corner, appear to be looking up at Christ. Their mouths are open in shock and their arms raised in the air, almost as if the power of Christ’s resurrection is pushing them back. 

Romare Bearden, Summertime (1967)

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/30567/

In 1950, Bearden moved to Paris to study philosophy. This is where me came into contact with new artists, including Georges Braque and Constantin Brancusi. He moved back to New York City a year later, when Abstract Expressionism was as its most popular. Back in New York, however, Bearden rejected the movement, as he believed it lacked philosophy and was too superficial. He stopped painting for a year, instead writing and publishing songs. Bearden then started worked closely with Stuart Davis, an artist with whom he first made contact in 1940. Davis introduced Bearden to the idea of combining painting and jazz.As Bearden would go on to say: "You put down one color and it calls for an answer. You have to look at it like a melody." In the 1960s, Bearden went on to develop the style for which he is most known, namely a combination of collage and photomontage. These works bring together magazine cut-outs and photographs, layered on top of paint or other media. This introduction of a new multimedia dimension into his work resulted in a more depth and interest. In 1963, Bearden joined the “Spiral” group, consisting of numerous artists who gathered in his studio to discuss how art could contribute to the civil rights movement. 

His work Summertime (1967) is an example of Bearden’s large-scale collages, in which he passionately portrays the African American life, which would become a frequent subject in his work. A woman is eating an ice cream, while a man who appears to be wearing a suit and top hat sits on the left side with his hand to his face. In the background, two figures pear out from behind their windows, illustrated by a single eye representing a woman in the left window, and a man whose eyes and lower half of the face are in depicted in the right window. The woman in the foreground holds her ice cream in a way not dissimilar to how one would hold a microphone in performance, alluding back to Bearden’s constant overlap of art and music. He contrasts cut outs from realist photographs of people faces with other collaged materials, such as the fence behind the woman, which is evoked through flat colours of pink, blue and brown, creating a pop art effect. The composition is minimal, yet feels somewhat cluttered, creating the atmosphere of a hot summer’s day in a busy urban neighbourhood. Bearden’s scenes of real life are figurative and recognizable, but there is always an abstract aspect to his works. The viewer is made to fill in the blanks where something in the collage is missing. In the vivid setting created by his collages, Bearden allows the viewer to fully incorporate themselves into the atmosphere. 

Romare Bearden, The Piano Lesson (1983)

https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/piano-lesson-homage-mary-lou

The Piano Lesson (1983) is an example of how music impacted Bearden’s artistic practice, not only in terms of the subject matter, but also in terms of taking “the structure of music and put it into 2-D form.” Bearden employed techniques associated with Cubism and Dada art, and also incorporated symbols of African American culture. The Piano Lesson is based on his memories of childhood in North Carolina, depicting a music teacher and her student. There is a sense of depth created through the inclusion of a window in the back of the composition, and in the dimensionality of the piano. However, there is also a sense of flatness, illustrated by the picture frame behind the piano, the keys on the piano, and the table in the foreground, where the perspective seems incorrect. There is a combination of numerous colours and varied textures, such as the pleating in the teacher’s skirt and the waved soft lines of the curtains. This work proved so influential that it partly inspired the Pittsburgh-native August Wilson's 1987 play The Piano Lesson.

Above all, Romare Bearden was greatly inspired by the writings of art theorist André Malraux, which are vital to the theoretical and symbolic readings of Bearden work. One of Malraux’s ideals was that “All art is a way of possessing destiny. And the cultural heritage is the totality, not of works that men must respect, but of those that can help them live.” What Malraux proposed was the idea that art is not a static depiction of a culture, but one that is constantly evolving and one that is confrontational and repossessing. This idea is clearly seen in Bearden’s work. In fact, it is what gives it much of its power. As Bearden himself said, “I did the new work out of a response and need to redefine the image of man in terms of the Negro experience I know best.” Bearden created visually powerful statements on African-American life that transformed African-American art during the Harlem Renaissance, and still resonates with audiences today. 

Bibliography 

Bearden, Romare Howard. “He Is Risen (The Passion of Christ Series).” Indianapolis Museum of Art Online Collection, 1 Jan. 1970, collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/34453/.

Blank, Barbara Trainin. Art & Activism: Artist Romare Bearden Could Do It All, as a New Exhibit Shows.The Burg, 31 May 2018, theburgnews.com/culture/art-activism-artist-romare-bearden-could-do-it-all-as-a-new-exhibit-shows.

Glazer, Lee Stephens. “Signifying Identity: Art and Race in Romare Bearden's Projections .” Collegeart.org, College Art , www.collegeart.org/pdf/artbulletin/Art Bulletin Vol 76 No 3 Glazer.pdf.

“Romare Bearden Artworks & Famous Paintings.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/bearden-romare/artworks/#pnt_1.

“Romare Bearden.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artist/romare-bearden-296.

“Summertime.” Saint Louis Art Museum, www.slam.org/collection/objects/30567/.

“The Piano Lesson (Homage to Mary Lou): PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.” PAFA, 28 Dec. 2014, www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/piano-lesson-homage-mary-lou.