A City That Transforms Artists

Romare Bearden’s Hand-Drawn Map of Paris – A personal cartographic sketch capturing significant landmarks and neighborhoods that influenced his artistic journey in postwar Paris.

What is it about Paris that transforms artists? From James Baldwin to Josephine Baker, many Black creatives have crossed the Atlantic and found a city that saw them as artists first—before race, before nationality, before anything else. Romare Bearden was no exception.

In 1950, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Bearden left behind Jim Crow America and set foot in a city that, for centuries, had been a crucible of artistic revolution. His time in Paris wasn’t just about exploring new techniques. It was about reimagining himself as an artist and as a citizen of the world.

Bearden’s Paris years shaped his creative philosophy, connected him to European modernism, and deepened his engagement with postcolonial artistic movements. Today, the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou celebrates his transatlantic legacy, showcasing how his work bridged cultures, continents, and artistic traditions.

But what exactly did Bearden find in Paris? And how did it shape the artist we revere today?

Paris, Postwar Modernism, and the Black Intellectual Scene

When Bearden arrived in Paris in 1950, he stepped into a city that was recovering from war but still brimming with creative energy. The Paris of Picasso, Braque, and Matisse had given way to an existentialist intellectualism, where artists and writers debated the future of art, philosophy, and politics in smoky cafés and dimly lit studios.

Bearden quickly immersed himself in this bohemian ecosystem. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, where he attended lectures by Jean-Paul Sartre and Gaston Bachelard. The French capital, which had long welcomed Black intellectuals and artists, introduced him to a thriving community of Black expatriates, writers, and musicians.

Romare Bearden’s Paris Blues/Jazz Series (1981) blends photography, collage, and gestural painting, creating a vibrant dialogue between Parisian culture and jazz improvisation. The piece captures the essence of transatlantic Black artistry, with echoes of movement, memory, and modernism.

The Influence of Paris Noir

This was the era of Paris Noir, when African-American artists, escaping the racism of the U.S., found Paris a city of refuge and artistic freedom. Bearden mingled with fellow expatriates like:

• Richard Wright, who had moved to Paris after breaking from the U.S. Communist Party.
• James Baldwin, who found in Paris a space to write without the weight of American racial politics.
• Miles Davis and Sidney Bechet, jazz musicians who were revered in France in a way they never were in America.

Through these encounters, Bearden gained a new perspective on race, colonialism, and artistic identity. Paris was not free of racism, but it offered Black artists and intellectuals a different cultural lens, one that was shaped by French colonialism rather than American segregation.

This distinction became important in Bearden’s work. His later collages, which weave together African, European, and American influences, reflect this global consciousness—a sensibility first nurtured in Paris.

Modernism, Abstraction, and the European Avant-Garde

In postwar Paris, Bearden encountered a different artistic conversation than what he had known in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance had championed realism and figuration as tools for racial uplift. But in Paris, Bearden was introduced to the European avant-garde, where abstraction was the dominant language.

Two major influences on Bearden during this time were:

1. Cubism and Picasso’s Legacy

Paris was still grappling with the legacy of Cubism, pioneered by Picasso and Braque. The fragmented forms, overlapping perspectives, and emphasis on geometry fascinated Bearden. He saw in Cubism a way to break down and reconstruct images—an approach that would later define his own collage technique.

2. Existentialism and the Role of the Artist

The philosophical movements of postwar France—existentialism and phenomenology—also shaped Bearden’s thinking. Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas about individual freedom and authenticity resonated with Bearden, who was constantly negotiating his

identity as an artist within a racialized world.

This exposure to modernist ideas pushed Bearden to experiment more boldly, even after he returned to the U.S. His collages, though deeply rooted in African-American experience, carry echoes of European modernism—an aesthetic synthesis born out of his Parisian years.

The Postcolonial Awakening: African Art, Diaspora, and Identity

Romare Bearden’s “Heart of Autumn” (c. 1961) – An abstract exploration of flowing forms and rich tones, capturing the essence of the autumn season through dynamic composition.

While Paris expanded Bearden’s artistic vocabulary, it also deepened his understanding of Black identity in a global context.

In postwar France, conversations about decolonization and African identity were gaining momentum. Bearden witnessed firsthand the rise of Negritude, a movement founded by Aimé Césaire, Léopold Senghor, and Léon Damas, which sought to reclaim African heritage in the face of European colonialism.

This movement profoundly influenced Bearden’s work. His later collages are filled with references to African masks, textiles, and folklore—an artistic connection between Black America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Example: The Influence of African Aesthetics

Bearden’s collage technique—layered, fragmented, and deeply textured—bears striking similarities to African textile patterns, Kuba cloth designs, and traditional storytelling motifs. His figures, often depicted in profile, recall West African sculptures and masks.

This embrace of African aesthetics was not just artistic; it was a political statement. Bearden was positioning African-American identity as part of a broader Black diaspora, linking the struggles of Black people across continents.

Bearden’s Legacy in Paris Noir at Centre Pompidou

Romare Bearden’s “The Train” (1975) – A striking collage reflecting the themes of migration, identity, and the African American journey through a dynamic interplay of color, texture, and fragmented imagery.

Today, Bearden’s transatlantic influence is celebrated in the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, which explores the impact of African-American artists in postwar France.

The exhibition situates Bearden alongside other Black creatives who shaped Paris’s cultural landscape—pianists, poets, painters, and revolutionaries who challenged Western artistic traditions.

The exhibition underscores Bearden’s role as a transatlantic artist—one whose work was deeply American but also profoundly global.

Art as a Bridge Between Worlds

Bearden’s time in Paris was transformative, not just for his art but for his entire worldview. It taught him that art is not bound by geography. It moves, it migrates, it absorbs, and it transforms.

His legacy is one of connection—between Europe and America, between Black history and modernism, between abstraction and storytelling.

How does place influence art?

This is the question Bearden’s story invites us to consider.

We encourage you to experience this transatlantic conversation firsthand. Visit Paris Noir at the Centre Pompidou, engage with Bearden’s collages, and reflect on how culture and history shape creative expression.

In the end, Bearden’s work reminds us that art is a bridge—a passport that lets us see the world anew.