Untitled (Jazz II)

1980

Romare Bearden

Artist, American, 1911 - 1988

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.
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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Wendy MacNaughton's pen and ink illustration of artist Romare Bearden

Article:  Drawing with Scissors with Romare Bearden

Wendy MacNaughton takes us on a journey to meet the legendary Harlem artist known for his collages — and reflect on our own homes and families.


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dave H. and Reba W. Williams, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2008

Associated Names

Inscriptions

In pencil: lower left, 7/12 AP; lower right, Romare Bearden

Wikidata ID

Q76440148


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