,,,„. .,, Romare Bearden (1911-1988) described his way of Jl^i-'m Mw making art as "putting something over something else." Sa/i Experimenting with fabric, photo- graphs, colored papers, and other materials, Bearden expanded the '%v possibilities of collage, inventing his own unique style. While firmly rooted in African- American culture, his life-affirming art speaks to everyone. Born in the South and raised in Harlem, Bearden's artworks are filled with images from everyday life. Quilting bees, cotton pickers, revival meetings, as well as city streets and jazz musicians, all formed the memories he would later turn into art. Award-winning author Jan Greenberg uses Bearden's art to tell his life story, providing a unique look at one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. REINFORCED BINDING L RC/A^R Collage of Memories By Jan Greenberg Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers Painted paper scissored into shapes. Scraps of fabric. Hands cut from a photograph. Bits and pieces pasted on a board. This collage Early Carolina Morning recalls a scene in the South almost a hundred years ago. was composed from memory by the artist It Romare Bearden. His pictures are filled with images of everyday life as he lived it. Roosters, cats, guitars, trains, snakes, sunsets, and people were some of his favorite subjects. m-iimmv^ When we look at his paintings, we feel we could be right there with him running through a cotton field in North Carolina or sitting on the front stoop of a tenement in Harlem. His art celebrates the struggles and triumphs of African American life in the twentieth century. Step inside Bearden's world, where jazz, rhythm, and blues meet a kaleidoscope of shimmering, shimmying colors. Great-grandfather Kennedy hoisted three-year- old Romie (as everyone called him) high on his shoulders. Off they went to the station to watch the trains whizzing by. A crowd had gathered there, as (v_/ the funeral train for Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, the wife of the Confederate general, slowly passed by. Great- grandfather held Romie up to see the railroad car Romie and his mother, Bessye, circa 1920 carrying the coffin strewn with flowers and surrounded by soldiers. Watching the trains steam in and out of town was one of Romie's favorite pastimes. "All aboard for the New York and Atlanta Special!" He loved to hear the conductor shouting out the names Ml ) of the cities. Romie and his great-grandfather would make up stories about who might be traveling on the train, where they might be heading. Lining the tracks were cotton mills that filled the air with a constant rumble of machinery processing cotton. ! :-y4^' m -.^m^^'v—t- ^*r»'t 3^Ubi ir^^^^^^H '^T^^^^^^^^^H rs [fl ^^^^M^'^^^^H I^R Jj^Br'^jn^^^^^^^olli Ac"*^ H XT'^^H^B^^>-' >j^^2^B!9Hi V-,iS'r .--fT* Photograph of Romie betv/een his great-grandparents; standing, from leftto right, his aunt Anna, mother and father, and his grandmother Cattie,1917 Romie never forgot the sounds of his childhood-the roar of the engine pulling into town, the train whistles, a rooster's crowing, gospel singers, or guitars. But it was the visual images that remained most vivid in his mind. Above: MecklenburgAutumn, 1979, lithograph, 27 x 21 V4 inches. EstateofRomare Bearden Opposite: DinnerBefore theRevival jProfile/PartI: Mecklenburg Countyseries, collage, 7x10^/4 inches, private collection