Romare Bearden was an African American artist. He was born in 1911 in North Carolina and lived most of his life in New York City.

Romare Bearden

Bearden grew up surrounded by many famous African Americans including Duke Ellington, the musician, as his mother was a reporter for a leading Black newspaper at the time.

Bearden grew up wanting to be a doctor and studied science at college where he also played semi-pro baseball! While he was at school in Boston he became a cartoonist for the school newspaper and then became more interested in art.

Romare Bearden created his most important works of art during the “Harlem Renaissance”, a term used to describe the blossoming of art and music among African Americans in New York City. He even wrote songs for famous Jazz musicians like Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie.

Bearden used collage, or cut out pieces of paper from magazines and other media, to create his artwork. He was very influenced by Cubism and the art of Pablo Picasso.

Romare Bearden

Pablo Picasso

He was very focused on showing what life was like in America for Black people during the 1940’s-60’s. His artwork also has a sense of Jazz rhythm influenced by his musician friends.

Today we will be creating “Rhythmic” collages in the style of Romare Bearden. Our collages will depict a city scape, or a block of buildings like where Bearden lived in New York City.