A Leader in the Arts Community |
||
Working in Black and WhiteAfter the formation of Spiral, Bearden concentrated on collage and, at the suggestion of a colleague, began to enlarge them photostatically. These black-and-white enlargements, later called Projections, earned him critical success. However, Bearden's exploration of photomechanical processes predates his Projections. In the 1950s, he systematically copied the works of old master painters as a means of improving his own artistic skills. He took reproductions of paintings to a photography studio, had them enlarged in black and white, and substituted his own color schemes for the originals. Bearden explained: "I did that with Giotto, Duccio, Veronese, Rembrandt—right on up to Monet. I spent three years copying." Studying these black-and-white reproductions informed his understanding of composition, and he began to think about color independent of form. |
Bearden's black-and-white photostats
of old master paintings have been described as "dark-skinned art
history."
Although he felt that he would benefit by studying works by the great
painters of Western art, he was also struck by the fact that nearly
all the figures depicted were white. Bearden recognized the power
of the photostatic process to change white figures into black. He
used
this artistic strategy of race-reversal throughout his career, fusing
his African-American heritage with the icons and archetypes of Western
cultural history. It was one of his most effective tools for creating
imagery at once personal and universal. |
|
Postive and negative photostatic reproductions. Nicolas Poussin, French 1594-1665, The
Feeding of the Child Jupiter, c. 1640. National Gallery of
Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection
|
||
