This catalogue documents a retrospective exhibition on the Afro-American artist Romare Bearden (1914-1988), held at the Studio Museum, Harlem, USA. About 100 prints, drawings and paintings were displayed, ranging from the cubist figurative pieces of the 1940s, to the lyrical abstract works of the 1950s and 1960s, to the later collages Bearden created. The catalogue depicts in colour about 25% of the works in the exhibition. An essay by Sharon Patton focuses on the themes, styles and iconography, examining Bearden's work within the context of American art, jazz, myth and spirituality.

Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden 1940-1987

Arts & Photography

Patton, Sharon F.

Campbell, Mary Schmidt

Bearden, Romare

Individual Artists

Oxford University Press

Examines the background and careers of six Black artists who have risen to prominence in America

Six Black Masters of American Art

Henderson, Harry

DOUBLEDAY

A landmark work of art history: lavishly illustrated and extraordinary for its thoroughness, A History of African-American Artists -- conceived, researched, and written by the great American artist Romare Bearden with journalist Harry Henderson, who completed the work after Bearden's death in 1988 -- gives a conspectus of African-American art from the late eighteenth century to the present. It examines the lives and careers of more than fifty signal African-American artists, and the relation of their work to prevailing artistic, social, and political trends both in America and throughout the world. Beginning with a radical reevaluation of the enigma of Joshua Johnston, a late eighteenth-century portrait painter widely assumed by historians to be one of the earliest known African-American artists, Bearden and Henderson go on to examine the careers of Robert S. Duncanson, Edward M. Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Aaron Douglas, Edmonia Lewis, Jacob Lawrence, Hale A. Woodruff, Augusta Savage, Charles H. Alston, Ellis Wilson, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Horace Pippin, Alma W. Thomas, and many others. Illustrated with more than 420 black-and-white illustrations and 61 color reproductions -- including rediscovered classics, works no longer extant, and art never before seen in this country -- A History of African-American Artists is a stunning achievement.

History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present

History & Criticism

Pantheon

Li'l Dan, a slave on a Southern plantation, loves to play his drum. When a company of Union soldiers announce that the slaves have been set free, Dan has no place to go, so he follows the soldiers, who make him their mascot. But Confederate soldiers attack, and Dan discovers that he is the only one who can save his friends. The only children's book ever written and illustrated by legendary American artist Romare Bearden, Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy was just recently discovered. Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has written a personal introduction to the book, describing his own memories of the artist while Bearden created this memorable tale. On an accompanying CD, Dr. Maya Angelou, three-time Grammy Award winner for spoken word recordings, reads the text.

Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story

Children's Books

Arts, Music & Photography

Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

One of America's most innovative artists, Romare Bearden (1911-1988) made colorful and passionate images that reflected his life in a time of creative ferment. His influences ranged from the old masters to African art, as well as the world around him: popular religion and ritual, jazz clubs and brothels, the history and literature of his time, and the places he lived (the rural South, Pittsburgh and Harlem, the Caribbean island of St. Martin). The resulting images are fresh and evocative, filled with quirky details and rhythmic forms. This authoritative and beautiful book, which accompanies a major retrospective opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., provides a provocative and absorbing look at a beloved artist. The Art of Romare Bearden showcases compelling examples of his pioneering work: complex collages and photostats; watercolors, gouaches, and oils; little-known landscapes; his only known sculpture; costume designs; and book illustrations. The book

The Art of Romare Bearden

Fine, Ruth E.

Corlett, Mary Lee

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Natl Gallery of Art

Romare Bearden 1911-1988: A Memorial Exhibition

ACA Galleries

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