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Instructor: Angela Baisley and Gaetana
Friedman
Fall 2003
Born in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina,
Romare Bearden (1911-1988), grew up in a middle-class
African-American family. His parents Bessye and Howard were
both college educated. In the early part of the century, the
family joined the Great Migration of southern blacks to
points north, specifically Harlem. Romare would call New
York City home for the rest of his life.
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His mother was the New York editor of a widely read
African-American weekly and became a prominent social and
political figure in Harlem. Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes,
W. E. B. Du Bois and other well known artists, writers and
musicians were frequent visitors. Such social and
intellectual gatherings would become a mainstay in Romare’s
life.
Throughout his childhood, Bearden spent time away from
Harlem, visiting and staying with grandparents in rural
Mecklenburg County, and Pittsburgh. His memory of these
experiences., as well as African-American cultural history,
would become the subjects of many of his works.
Additionally, his visit to Paris (courtesy of the GI Bill)
would also influence his art.
Although Bearden is best known for his work in collage, he
achieved success in a wide array of media and techniques as
well as creating designs for record albums, costumes and
stage sets,
and book illustrations.
Material from the 2003 retrospective exhibition at the
National Gallery of Art, Washington, provides a rich
addition to this class series. The exhibition which has
moved on to San Francisco will open in October at the
Whitney Museum of American in New York and finally to the
High
Museum of Art in Atlanta through April 2005.
Come join us as we explore his life and art in four class
meetings, the last of which will allow class members to
begin collages inspired by this remarkable artist, Romare
Bearden.
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