On this day in 1988 we lost one of my favourite American artists, painter and collagist Romare Bearden. His unique style is instantly recognizable, as I saw a week ago when I visited the New York State Museum, and spied a Bearden from across the room. Whether the work is a collage or a painting, in oil or in watercolour, you can rely on it to be vivid and engaging.
I had the pleasure of seeing the extensive Bearden exhibition when it stopped for a while in 2004 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. And let me say, if another Bearden exhibition should make the rounds, you should go out of your way to see it.
My favourites include Piano Lesson (1983), Card Players (1982), Quilting Time (1981), Up at Minton’s (1980), At the Savoy (1974), Three Folk Musicians (1967), and the massive and striking The Block (1971).
See the Romare Bearden Foundation web site for a good biography and a broad selection of his works.
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