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The Art of

Romare Bearden

Collage of Memories

Romare Bearden’s Begining

Born 1911 near Charlotte, NC in his great-grandfather’s house. It was on the porch of this house that Romare first began to dabble in painting and music while listening to the locomotives rumbling into the nearby train station.

Moved to NYC

His parents moved to Harlem in NYC when he was three where they entertained well known black musicians, such Paul Robeson, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway, and writers like Langston Hughes.

“ My purpose is to paint the life of my people as I know it.”

Bearden used collage to express his feeling about the conflicts, barriers, and hardships faced everyday by most

African-Americans.

Collage - A picture or design created by adhering such basically flat elements as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, cloth, string, etc., to a flat surface,. Introduced by the Cubist artists, this process was widely used by artists who followed, and is a familiar technique in contemporary art.

"Collage" was originally a French word, derived from the word coller, meaning "to paste."

RomareBearden

During Bearden’s education, he also played a professional baseball player in

the Negro Leagues.

Typical cartoons done by African-American artists to earn money

1930’s Bearden worked professionally for the Baltimore Afro-American weekly newspaper as a political cartoonist.

Worked for NYC Department of Welfare as a caseworker while going to the Art Student’s League.

1951Returned to NYC writing songs for two years.

1964 During the peak of the Civil Rights Movement he pieced together his first photomontages.

Romare Bearden’s Collage 1965 first art show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington

DC. 1967 retired from his job to work full time on his collages.

Collage is like life. You take what you get and work with it.

1911-1988

Romare Bearden

Born 1911 near Charlotte, NC in his great-grandfather’s house.

It was on the porch of this house that Romare first began to dabble in painting and music while listening to the locomotives rumbling into the nearby train station.His parents moved to Harlem in NYC when he was three where they entertained well known black musicians, such Paul Robeson, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway, and writers like Langston Hughes.1935 Graduated from NYU with a degree in Math, and decided to become an artist. He continued to be a lifelong learner.1930’s Worked professionally for the Baltimore Afro-American weekly newspaper as a political cartoonist.Worked for NYC Department of Welfare as a caseworker while going to the Art Student’s League.1942-1945 Served in the Army during WWII and after continued to lived in Paris studying European artists.1951Returned to NYC writing songs for two years.1964 During the peak of the Civil Rights Movement he pieced together his first photomontages.1965 first art show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC.1967 retired from his job to work full time on his collages.Died 1988 New York City

Collage can take on many different looks. Two typical

looks are either…

WHAT DOES COLLAGE LOOK LIKE NOW?

CUBIST

REALISTICSURREAL

Collage is connected to another look as well…

WHAT DOES COLLAGE LOOK LIKE NOW?

ASSEMBLAGE