what kind of art does romare bearden do

Romare Bearden

(September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from New York University in 1935.

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What type of art was Romare Bearden best known for?

collageBearden is most famous for his work in collage, which he used in unique and innovative ways. He also made paintings in watercolor, gouache, and oil, edition prints, monotypes, murals, and one assemblage sculpture.

What did Romare Bearden do?

Romare Bearden, in full Romare Howard Bearden, (born September 2, 1911, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.—died March 12, 1988, New York City, New York), American painter, whose collages of photographs and painted paper on canvas depict aspects of American black culture in a style derived from Cubism.

How did Romare Bearden make his art?

He cut them into shapes and glued them onto a large piece of canvas, layering the pieces to make the picture. Bearden described his technique as “collage painting” because he often painted on top of the collaged papers.

What subjects did Romare Bearden represent?

Romare Bearden used personal memories, African-American cultural history, and literature as the source of his subject matter. He placed aspects of African-American life within the context of universal themes.

Is Romare Bearden a contemporary artist?

Romare Bearden, an African-American artist and writer, is renowned for his collages and photomontages a technique he began to experiment with in 1950s, establishing his reputation as a leading contemporary artist.

Who is Romare Bearden?

Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from New York University in 1935.

What is one reason Bearden chose to use collage in his artwork?

In the same interview, he said he used collage because it was like 'a documentary movie — immediate, and made up of the world around him. He was born on September 2, 1911 to Richard Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the family moved to New York when he was a young child.

What was Romare Bearden's chosen medium for his art?

In 1963, when Bearden was in his early 50s, the artist turned his attention to the medium of collage, and also photomontage, a technique in which an image is crafted by combining cutout parts of photographs.

What medium did Romare Bearden use to create his work the block?

Bearden's work focused on the African American culture and experience as well as the unity and cooperation within the African American community. He used a combination of images from magazines and colored paper, and would work in other textures such as sandpaper, graphite and paint to compose his collages.

How do you make collage art?

How to Make Your Own Paper Collage ArtStart with a base for your art. ... Cut or tear strips of paper. ... Layer the paper in stripes on the base. ... Glue into place. ... Add accent pieces, embellish your art to finish it off.Optional – make spacers to place in between paper layers to create some dimension in your art piece.

How did Romare Bearden impact the world?

He was involved in founding several important art venues, such as The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Cinque Gallery. Initially funded by the Ford Foundation, Bearden and the artists Norman Lewis and Ernest Crichlow established Cinque to support younger minority artists.

What is conceptual representation in art?

In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.

How did Romare Bearden impact the world?

He was involved in founding several important art venues, such as The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Cinque Gallery. Initially funded by the Ford Foundation, Bearden and the artists Norman Lewis and Ernest Crichlow established Cinque to support younger minority artists.

How did Romare Bearden impact society?

He founded The Studio Museum and Cinque Gallery in Harlem to support young, minority artists, and was also a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970.

When was Romare Bearden most famous?

Collages. Bearden is perhaps best known for his collage and photomontage compositions, which he began creating in the mid-1960s. During this time, he felt he was struggling in his art between expressing his experiences as a Black man and the obscurity of abstract painting.

What other important things did Bearden do outside of art?

From 1942 to 1945, Bearden served in the army. After his discharge, he held his first one man exhibition in a New York gallery — works from the ​“Passion of Christ” series — at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in 1945. In 1950,Bearden decided to go to Paris and study philosophy part time at the Sorbonne on the G.I.

What is the projections series?

The ​ “ Projections” series consists of monochromatic photomontages and photostats that Bearden called ​ “ Photo Projections.”. In these works, silhouettes of faces and hands have been cut from black and white photographs and then combined in carefully orchestrated designs.

What colors did Bearden use in his watercolors?

Very conscious of the evolution of his style, Bearden once stated that his early temperas of the 1930 s were composed of closed forms with colors that were primarily earthy browns, blues, and greens. When he began painting watercolors he employed bright color patterns with bold black lines to delineate shapes.

What did the spiral group do?

From this meeting the ​ “ Spiral” group was formed, and its members began to reassess their responsibilities as artists to society. One of the Spiral members suggested that Bearden enlarge his photomontages photographically. He experimented with this technique, but was not satisfied with the results.

What was the first one man museum exhibition?

The following year, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., organized a second ​ “ Projections” show, Bearden’s first one man museum exhibition. The success of this series was such that he was able to support himself as a professional artist, and in 1966 Bearden gave up his job as a social worker.

What was the Harlem Renaissance?

During the early 1920 s the period of cultural flowering in the African American community known as the Harlem Renaissance was in its formative stages. The Bearden apartment on West 131st Street in Harlem was a frequent gathering place for such intellectuals as W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Countee Cullen, as well as artists Aaron Douglas and Charles Alston, and jazz musicians Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Andy Razaf. The Lincoln Theatre, Savoy Ballroom, and a number of other night spots were only a few blocks from the Bearden apartment, and Bearden became deeply immersed in jazz and the Blues as an adolescent.

When did Bearden experiment with abstract art?

At the height of abstract expressionism’s popularity in New York, Bearden experimented with its techniques between the late 1950 s and early 1960 s. He produced a series of nonrepresentational paintings in which organic forms merge.

Who is the artist that Grosz introduced to?

A strong influence, Grosz introduced Bearden to the works of Daumier, Goya, Breughel, and Köllwitz, as well as Ingres, Dürer, Holbein, and Poussin. Bearden left the Art Students League after a year and a half, painted part time, and found employment as a caseworker in the New York City Department of Social Services.

Who Was Romare Bearden?

Considered one of the most important American artists of the 20th century, Romare Bearden’s artwork depicted the African American culture and experience in creative and thought-provoking ways. Born in North Carolina in 1911, Bearden spent much of his career in New York City. Virtually self-taught, his early works were realistic images, often with religious themes. He later transitioned to abstract and Cubist style paintings in oil and watercolor. He is best known for his photomontage compositions made from torn images of popular magazines and assembled into visually powerful statements on African American life.

What style of art did Bearden use?

Other works were done in the Cubist style with rich colors and simple forms. Like many budding artists, Bearden couldn’t make a living solely from his art. He juggled several jobs while taking advanced classes and occasionally drew cartoons for several African American publications including DuBois' The Crisis.

What was the name of the jazz artist who wrote songs for Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie?

Bearden ’s collage work has also been compared to jazz improvisation. Growing up during the Harlem Renaissance, he was exposed to many of the jazz greats. Ellington was one of his first patrons. Bearden wrote songs for Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie and later designed a record cover for Wynton Marsalis.

Where was Bessye Bearden born?

Born September 2, 1911, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden was the only child of Richard and Bessye Bearden. The family moved to New York City when he was a toddler. Bessye was a reporter for a leading Black newspaper and eventually become president of the Negro Women’s Democratic Association.

Who is the most important American artist of the 20th century?

Romare Bearden. Romare Bearden is considered one of the most important American artists of the 20th century. He depicted aspects of Black culture in a Cubist style.

Who were the famous people who lived in the Bearden household?

The household was a gathering place for Harlem Renaissance luminaries such as W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes and Duke Ellington. After graduating from high school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was living with his maternal grandmother, Bearden played a little semi-pro baseball in Boston.

Where did Picasso study?

Between 1950 and 1952, he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris where he met Pablo Picasso. His later paintings showed influences of old masters such as Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt as well as modern artists like Picasso and Henri Matisse. He also studied Chinese painting techniques and co-wrote a book on Chinese art.

What is the name of the exhibition that Romare Bearden has made?

Bearden had numerous museum shows of his work since then, including a 1971 show at the Museum of Modern Art entitled Prevalence of Ritual, an exhibition of his prints, entitled A Graphic Odyssey showing the work of the last fifteen years of his life; and the 2005 National Gallery of Art retrospective entitled The Art of Romare Bearden. In 2011, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery exhibited its second show of the artist's work, Romare Bearden (1911–1988): Collage, A Centennial Celebration, an intimate grouping of 21 collages produced between 1964 and 1983.

How did Romare Bearden die?

Romare Bearden died in New York City on March 12, 1988, due to complications from bone cancer. The New York Times described Bearden in its obituary as "one of America's pre-eminent artists" and "the nation's foremost collagist."

How tall is the sculpture Romare Bearden?

She was publicly honored at the ceremony for her contribution. The reinterpreted work is 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and 13.5 feet (4.1 m) wide. Ground breaking for Romare Bearden Park in Charlotte took place on September 2, 2011, and the completed park opened in late August 2013.

What style of art did Bearden paint?

He produced paintings at this time in "an expressionistic, linear, semi-abstract style.". He returned to Europe in 1950 to study philosophy with Gaston Bachelard and art history at the Sorbonne, under the auspices of the G.I. Bill. Bearden traveled throughout Europe, visiting Picasso and other artists.

Why did Bearden focus on Christ's body first?

It is why Bearden focuses on Christ's body first, to portray the idea of the myth, and then highlights the crowd, to show how the idea is passed on to men.

When was Romare Bearden elected to the National Academy of Design?

In 1978, Bearden was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. In 1987, the year before he died, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Romare Bearden on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

What is the background of Bearden?

Bearden had struggled with two artistic sides of himself: his background as "a student of literature and of artistic traditions, and being a black human being involves very real experiences, figurative and concrete," which was at combat with the mid-twentieth century "exploration of abstraction".