Bearden was born Sept 2, 1911 and died on March 12, 1988.
Today we celebrate him as a master painter who would have been 113 years old today. Born in segregated Charlotte, NC to parents who migrated to Harlem, NYC when he was about 4 years old. The rituals and culture of the South stayed with him and later lived through much of his artworks. Portrait by Leroy Henderson
Baptisms by Bearden, who saw such rites and rituals prevalent in African American culture could also be found throughout world cultures. He looked for those universal aspects common to people rather than their differences.
PICTURED: 1) Baptism, 1972 screenprint 2) The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism, 1964 collage 3) Baptism, 1964
Highlights from this year…
Bearden was an anchor artist of In Praise of Black Errantry, an exhibition organized by London’s Unit Gallery to coincide with this year’s Venice Biennale. The exhibition was on view from April 17 through June 29, 2024 in the 15th-century palace of Palazzo Pisani S. Marina in the Cannaregio neighborhood of Venice.
Curated by art historian Indie A. Choudhury, the show took inspiration from the idea that errantry can be understood as a manifestation of resistance and self-determination that transcends borders, which was proposed by Martinique-born French writer and philosopher Édouard Glissant.
Read more here: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/unit-london-in-praise-of-black-errantry-2464042
Romare Bearden: Resonances at the St. Louis Museum Art Museum (May 3–September 15, 2024)highlighted Romare Bearden and his relationships with other artists in that museum’s collection. Included works by Norman Lewis, Elizabeth Catlett, Emma Amos, Pablo Picasso, Francisco de Zurbarán, Käthe Kollwitz, and Thomas Hart Benton.
The exhibition spotlighted Summertime, 1967 from the Museum’s collection. This is the first time in more than twenty years that Summertime was on view. Romare Bearden: Resonances is curated by Charlie Farrell, the 2022-2024 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow, and Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art.
Also on view was the photograph, Untitled (Portrait of Romare Bearden), by Leroy Henderson. An audio guide conversation about the photo can be found on the museum website.
https://www.slam.org/audio/romare-bearden-resonances/?stop=2
Bearden’s art was featured as part of the blockbuster exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 25–July 28, 2024). The Block, 1971 from the Met’s own collection was highlighted as a coda to the fruitful period. Bearden grew up in the sights and sounds of the era and carried the lessons and idealism through to his works such as The Block. Read more and listen to a rare recording that was played to accompany this piece at the opening of the artist’s groundbreaking solo show at MoMA in 1971.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/481891
For a video tour https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism/video-tour
Cheers!