Tenor Sermon, Hand Signed Lithograph, 31 x 43 in. Framed, Edition of 175, 1979

Romare Bearden   Master Artists

Romare Bearden was born in 1911 in North Carolina and passed away on 11th March in New York. He was George Grosz's student at Art Students’ League in 1963-1967. He studied at the Boston University, then Sorbonne in Paris, and finished his studies at New York University. A famous humanist, he supports the young emerging artists with fervor. He uses protean talent in several artistic fields: music, arts, performances, history, literature...He has many professions: caricaturist,weekly editorial for Afro-American, artistic editor for the monthly magazine: The Medley, artistic director of Beanpot ...and has published various magazines for years.

He drew inspiration from Western masters like Duccio, Giotto, Hooch, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse...African art, Japanese prints and Chinese landscape paintings also have an impact on his creation. He became friends with major icons such as James Baldwin, Stuart Davis, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Joan Miró and Jacob Laurence...

A prolific artist, he uses various mediums. His collages, watercolors, oil paintings, photo-montages and etchings are filled with visual metaphors from his past in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Harlem, and various historical, literary and musical sources too. For example, he makes costumes, sets and designs for dance theaters. His creations are extremely unique, it uses various styles, media...

He did his first exhibition in Washington in 1944 and contributed to the foundation of several key art places, like the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Cinque Gallery...He was the first artistic director of the new Harlem Cultural Council, not to mention one of the founding members of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970. He was elected in 1972 at the National Institute of Arts and Letters, Romane Bearden was an important spokesperson for the artistic and social issues of those days.