Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
One of the most important and underappreciated visual artists of the twentieth century, Romare Bearden started as a cartoonist during his college years and emerged as a painter during the 1930s, at the tail end of the Harlem Renaissance and in time to be part of a significant community of black artists supported by the WPA. Though light-skinned and able to "pass," Bearden embraced his African heritage, choosing to paint social realist canvases of African-American life. After World War II, he became one of a handful of black artists to exhibit in a private gallery-the commercial outlet that would form the core of the American art world's post-war marketplace. Rejecting Abstract Expressionism, he lived briefly in Paris. After he suffered a nervous breakdown, Bearden returned to New York, turning to painting just as the civil rights movement was gaining ground with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery bus boycott. By the time of the March on Washington in 1963, Bearden had begun to experiment with collage-or Projection, as he called it-the medium for which he would ultimately become famous.
In Romare Bearden: A Reconstructed Life, Mary Schmidt Campbell offers readers an enlightening analysis of Bearden's influences and the thematic focus of his mature work. Bearden's work provides an exquisite portrait of memory and the African American past; according to Campbell, it also offers a record of the narrative impact of visual imagery in the twentieth century, revealing how the emerging popularity of photography, film and television depicted African Americans during their struggle to be recognized as full citizens of the United States.
Synopsis
Here is the first major book on one of the most important and yet underappreciated artists of the twentieth century, which his life practically spanned. By the time of Bearden's death in 1988, he was most famous for large-scale public murals and collages, which were reproduced in places like
Time and
Esquire to express the "black experience in America." As Mary Schmidt Campbell shows us in this definitive, defining, and utterly immersive portrait of Bearden, both the man and the artist, the relationship between art and race was central to his life, a constant, driving, and unresolved creative tension. Bearden was born in North Carolina but his mother, a prominent journalist, brought him to Harlem during the heyday of the Renaissance, and there he met most of its major figures, including Ralph Ellison. W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey. Interested in social commentary, Bearden started as a cartoonist during his college years but in the later 1930s turned to painting and became part of a community of black artists supported by the WPA. After World War Two, Bearden began to represent more fully his heritage, becoming what Campbell calls a "race man," creating social realist canvases of African-American life. He became one of a handful of black artists to exhibit in a private gallery--the commercial outlet that would form the core of the American art world's post-war marketplace.
But in the 1940s and 50s, Bearden rejected the then-dominant Abstract Expressionism, embracing instead the classical tradition of representation. After he suffered a nervous breakdown, Bearden returned to New York, turning to painting just as the civil rights movement was gaining ground. By the time of the March on Washington in 1963, Bearden had begun to experiment with the Projections, as he called his major collages, in which he tried to capture the full spectrum of the struggles of African Americans, both the day-to-day way in which life is lived and the broader vision and aspirations.
Campbell's book offers an American epic, a narrative of Bearden's life along with illuminating appreciation analysis of his work and career. Campbell, who met Bearden in the 1970s, was one of the first to compile a catalogue of his works. An American Odyssey goes far beyond that, offering a living portrait of an artist and the impact he made upon the world he sought to recreate.
Synopsis
By the time of his death in 1988, Romare Bearden was most widely celebrated for his large-scale public murals and collages, which were reproduced in such places as Time and Esquire to symbolize and evoke the black experience in America. As Mary Schmidt Campbell shows us in this definitive,
defining, and immersive biography, the relationship between art and race was central to his life and work -- a constant, driving creative tension. Bearden started as a cartoonist during his college years, but in the later 1930s turned to painting and became part of a community of artists supported
by the WPA. As his reputation grew he perfected his skills, studying the European masters and analyzing and breaking down their techniques, finding new ways of applying them to the America he knew, one in which the struggle for civil rights became all-absorbing. By the time of the March on
Washington in 1963, he had begun to experiment with the Projections, as he called his major collages, in which he tried to capture the full spectrum of the black experience, from the grind of daily life to broader visions and aspirations.
Campbell's book offers a full and vibrant account of Bearden's life -- his years in Harlem (his studio was above the Apollo theater), to his travels and commissions, along with illuminating analysis of his work and artistic career. Campbell, who met Bearden in the 1970s, was among the first to
compile a catalogue of his works. An American Odyssey goes far beyond that, offering a living portrait of an artist and the impact he made upon the world he sought both to recreate and celebrate.