Romare Bearden
About Romare Bearden (1911-1988)
Bearden is considered one of America's most important African American artists of the 20th century. One of the most inventive and original artists of our time, Bearden transformed the medium of collage into a vehicle for his own highly personal, artistic expression.
In 1963 Bearden became a founding member of "Spiral", the Harlem-based group formed to discuss the role of African-American artists in politics, the civil rights movement and the art world.
In 1971 Bearden gained extensive recognition with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was awarded five honorary Doctorate degrees and was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. On June 18, 1987 Bearden was honored with The National Medal of the Arts Award. In 1990 The Romare Bearden Foundation was established to promote his work and to support African American artists.
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Beyond the Spiral
Amos, Bearden, Lewis, Mayhew, and others Oct 28, 2023 - Jan 20, 2024This exhibition presents the artists from the legendary Spiral Group and the ways their artwork and production were influenced by their brief association. The Spiral Group was a New York–based African American artists’ collective active from 1963 to 1965. Founded by Charles Alston, Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, and Hale Woodruff to explore the relationships between art and activism. The group also included artists Emma Amos, Calvin Douglass, Perry Ferguson, Reginald Gammon, Felrath Hines, Alvin Hollingsworth, William Majors, Richard Mayhew, Earl Miller, Merton D. Simpson and James Yeargans.Read more
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A Black Perspective
Jan 8 - Jul 30, 2021Read more -
Music is the Message
Jul 16 - Oct 5, 2019Read more -
On Such a Night as This: A Celebration of African American Art
Nov 10, 2016 - Jan 28, 2017Read more -
Textures
The Written Word in Contemporary Art May 4 - Jun 15, 2013Read more
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"Riffs and Relations" Examines Influence of European Modernism on Black Artists
Hypebeast Mar 25, 2020The sweeping coronavirus pandemic has closed museums around the world for the near future, but the visual arts can still be enjoyed at least to an extent. One current exhibition, “Riffs and Relations” at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is turning the spotlight on an expansive group of African-American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.Read more -
'Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition' Opens at The Phillips on Feb. 29
Feb 25, 2020On Saturday, The Phillips Collection in D.C. will debut Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, a pioneering exhibition expanding the narrative of modern art in America by exploring the rich and complex history of 20th– and 21st–century African American artists and their responses to European modernism. Organized by guest curator Dr. Adrienne L. Childs and The Phillips Collection, Riffs and Relations will be on view exclusively at The Phillips Collection from February 29–May 24, 2020.Read more -
Art Review: Tuning in to African American Art
Herald-Tribune, Marty Fugate Jan 19, 2020‘Spectrum: A Celebration of Artistic Diversity’: Runs through Feb. 6 at Ringling College’s Lois & David Stulberg Gallery, 1188 Dr. Martin Luther King Way, Sarasota....Read more -
ART REVIEW; Life's Abundance, Captured in a Collage
The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman Oct 15, 2004IN July 1963, a month before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, Romare Bearden met with a group of other black artists in his studio on Canal Street to talk about what they should do for civil rights. "Western society, and particularly that of America, is gravely ill, and a major symptom is the American treatment of the Negro," Bearden said. "The artistic expression of this culture concentrates on themes of 'absurdity' and 'anti-art,' which provide further evidence of its ill-health."Read more
