Thursday, February 7, 2008

The Cityscapes and Photo montage of Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden's life was full of movement. Born in 1912 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden's family moved shortly thereafter to Harlem where their apartment was a popular meeting place for intellectuals such as W.E.B. Dubois as well as artists during the Renaissance.

In 1925, Bearden moved to Pittsburgh where he eventually graduated from high school, and later came back to New York, obtaining his bachelor's degree in mathematics from New York University.

The painter eventually joined the "306" group and continued his study of European painting which was later to exert a heavy influence on his work. After serving in the army for three years, Bearden studied philosophy in Paris at the Sorbonne, returning to New York afterward to paint.
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The Street

Photo Montage, 1964

Pittsburgh Memories

Berkeley - The City and it's People

Rocket to the Moon

3 comments:

Don said...

I would have to believe Bearden captured the essence of the inner city in the first two paintings.

Sounds like that was some get together with Dubois alos being present.

Toure Zeigler said...

It would be interesting to see what a collage of today's inner-city would look like

moxthefox said...

I have no knowledge whether one may have influenced the other but the image "Rocket to the Moon" brings to mind the Marley lyrics in "So much Trouble". Especially, "million miles from reality, no care for you no care for me".