Romare Bearden

Bearden, Romare Howard

American, 1911 - 1988

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African American artist (1911–1988)

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The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden, Derek Walcott, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc., Limited Editions Club, New York · 1983 · bound volume with offset lithograph reproductions and accompanying color lithograph on wove Rives paper ·  Accession ID  2002.115.1.1-2

This is the title page and an illustration, to our left, of the book “The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott & The Art of Romare Bearden.” The illustration on the left-hand page shows a loosely sketched torso of a woman against a vivid yellow background. The woman tips her shoulders toward us and to our left, and her face looks down in profile over her lower shoulder. Her other arm is raised and extends off the top of the page, and she is cut off just below the hips by the bottom edge of the composition. Strokes of white paint form the curves of the right side of her body, delineating the breast, waist, and hip. Another white, curving line forms her other breast. Touches of dark brown indicate nipples, her belly button, and pubic area. The outlines of her right arm, to our left, is painted with strokes streaked with canary yellow, rust brown, and pine green. Her profile is painted with swipes of burgundy red, and a round area of mottled black and white could be her hair, cap, or scarf. A patch of caramel brown under her breast to our left is shaped like a human heart. The background behind her is also mostly canary yellow, but there is a vertical band of muted cobalt blue to our left and kelly green along the right edge. The title page, the right half of this image, is white with black letters. The title is handwritten in a mix of lower and upper case letters in an angular, cursive style. The edges of the other pages of the book and the binding are visible at the edges of this scan.
Romare Bearden, Derek Walcott, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc., Limited Editions Club, New York, The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden, 1983, bound volume with offset lithograph reproductions, Gift of Jane and Raphael Bernstein, 2002.115.1.1

The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden, Derek Walcott, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc., Limited Editions Club, New York · 1983 · bound volume with offset lithograph reproductions ·  Accession ID  2002.115.1.1

Romare Bearden, Robert Blackburn, Limited Editions Club, New York, Untitled from The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden, 1983, color lithograph on Rives paper, Gift of Jane and Raphael Bernstein, 2002.115.1.2

Untitled from The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden, Robert Blackburn, Limited Editions Club, New York · 1983 · color lithograph on Rives paper ·  Accession ID  2002.115.1.2

Pink lines cut horizontally across six musicians against a pink background in this stylized, horizontal screenprint. Three of the musicians have black-colored skin, two have brown skin, and one has skin shaded with muted yellow and gray. The largest musician is in the left third of the picture. He has a black-colored face with a brown triangular nose, and streaks of pale yellow suggest light or a sheen across his forehead, one cheek, and chin. He looks out at us and smiles as he clamps a cigarette between his teeth. He wears a periwinkle-blue suit jacket and rests his oversized, brown-colored hands on a piano keyboard. The two brown-skinned musicians play the saxophone and perhaps a clarinet to the right. One wears a parchment-white suit jacket and the other charcoal gray. The yellow and gray-shaded face floats between the keyboardist and the pair to the right. He may hold up an old-fashioned camera with a flash bulb. A man with dark gray and black skin sits at a drum set along the left edge of the sheet, and the sixth, whose face, hand, and trumpet are blocked in with areas of white and black, is near a red circle in the top left corner of the composition. The body parts, features, instruments, and clothing are fragmented and stylized, as if collaged. The pink streaks against the pink background suggest that the scene was created in strips and then laid down onto the background. Writing in graphite under the printed image reads “7/12 A/P” to the left and “Romare Bearden” to the right.
Romare Bearden, Untitled (Jazz II), 1980, screenprint on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008.115.11

Untitled (Jazz II)

Romare Bearden · 1980 · screenprint on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.115.11

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52, Sirens' Song, 1979, color screenprint on wove Lana paper, Purchased as the Gift of Richard A. Simms, 2013.142.3

Sirens' Song

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52 · 1979 · color screenprint on wove Lana paper ·  Accession ID  2013.142.3

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52, Odysseus Leaves Nausicaa, 1979, color screenprint on wove Lana paper, Purchased as the Gift of Richard A. Simms, 2013.142.5

Odysseus Leaves Nausicaa

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52 · 1979 · color screenprint on wove Lana paper ·  Accession ID  2013.142.5

Printed with mostly geometric shapes in vibrant, flat colors, this stylized horizontal screenprint shows buildings lining a harbor across from us, with a sailboat entering the scene from our right. The top quarter of this print has a band of pale turquoise clouds against a vibrant cobalt-blue sky. The buildings on the shore across from us are mostly nickel or slate gray with black squares and rectangles for windows and doors. A few of the buildings are white and two are hot pink. One arched, sunshine yellow form at the center of the composition could be an opening or a domed roof. One gray building, in front of the yellow, has a band and roof picked out with glittery gold. Several palm trees grow atop the spring-green hills beyond the buildings. A band of caramel brown near the water could be a sandy beach. Lumpy brown forms could be rocks in the water near the shore. The waterway is celestial blue with a few bands in grape purple, light gray, spring green, and turquoise. Billowing white sails pull the boat into the image. A person silhouetted in black holds a shield and spear at the bow. Three long black sticks with white arrows at the end, perhaps more spears or paddles, protrude from the front of the ship, and the side is decorated with several shield-sized panels. The artist signed the paper in the margin under the bottom right corner of the printed image, "Romare Bearden," and numbered the lower left corner, "65/125."
Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52, Home to Ithaca, 1979, color screenprint on wove Lana paper, Purchased as the Gift of Richard A. Simms, 2013.142.6

Home to Ithaca

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52 · 1979 · color screenprint on wove Lana paper ·  Accession ID  2013.142.6

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Pilate

Romare Bearden, Atelier Ettinger, NY · 1979 · color lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.24.9

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52, Cattle of the Sun God, 1979, color screenprint on wove Lana paper, Purchased as the Gift of Richard A. Simms, 2013.142.4

Cattle of the Sun God

Romare Bearden, Hugh MacKay’s Atelier 52 · 1979 · color screenprint on wove Lana paper ·  Accession ID  2013.142.4

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Three Women (Easter Sunday)

Romare Bearden, Atelier Ettinger, NY · 1979 · color lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.24.8