Enduring Voices Catalogue (6-21-23) - Flipbook - Page 24
ROMARE BEARDEN
COLLECTING AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
We began collecting African American works without really deciding to. We
just saw one work that we loved. We were in Michael Rosenfeld’s art gallery
looking for something else entirely, when we saw an untitled Romare Bearden
hanging over the desk of the gallery’s owner. Sometimes called Husband and
Wife, we found it a very compelling image. We looked at it and said, “Oh,
that’s really interesting” — and we think anyone will agree when they see it.
The next thing we knew, we had bought it.
When we first glanced at it, we did not realize it was a Romare Bearden. The
work is a very early and very unusual Bearden. We would have recognized the
artist’s name, because, for one thing, he was from Charlotte, North Carolina,
where there were railroads. In the early days, he would even be around
Roanoke a little — and, of course, in Harlem. Being such an early work,
Husband and Wife looks different from much of Bearden’s other imagery, but
the artist’s later accomplishments were all there and it’s interesting for us at
home to see and think about the progression.
Romare Bearden (United States, 1911-1988)
The Cyclops, 1977
Collaged papers and graphite on fiberboard, 14 x 11 in.
So the first African American work we purchased was Husband and Wife.
That led us to an interest in Bearden and his work, and to the acquisition
of Carolina Morning, a much more typical Bearden — it is a collage
construction from a later period. Then we acquired a couple of Bearden prints,
one of which is in this exhibition. Pepper Jelly Lady was from his print era.
Then the very compelling portrait The Cyclops became available a few years
later. A gallery owner who had by then picked up on our interest in Bearden
and African American art called and said, “I’ve got something that you’ve just
got to have.” That is the reason that we have this collage from the Odysseus
series. We obviously like Bearden — we have five.
–Susan S. and David R. Goode
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