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

1983

Romare Bearden

Artist, American, 1911 - 1988

Derek Walcott

Author, West Indian, 1930 - 2017

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.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bound volume with offset lithograph reproductions

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Jane and Raphael Bernstein

  • Dimensions

    closed: 31.12 x 24.77 x 2.86 cm (12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 1 1/8 in.)
    open: 31.12 x 51.12 x 3.18 cm (12 1/4 x 20 1/8 x 1 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    2002.115.1.1

Associated Artworks

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

Romare Bearden, Robert Blackburn, Limited Editions Club, New York

1983


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired by NGA from Mr. and Mrs. Raphael Bernstein in 2002.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2012

  • Carribbean: Crossroads of the World, El Museo del Barrio, New York; The Queens Museum, Flushing; The Studio Museum in Harlem; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, 2012-2014, (shown only in Harlem).

Inscriptions

on colophon page: Romare Bearden (in ball-point pen) / Derek Wallcott (in felt-tip pen)


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