Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden was an African-American artist and author remembered for his creative and thought-provoking portrayal of African-American culture and experience through paintings, collages and photomontages. Starting out as a cartoonist, he switched to expressionistic and semi-abstract paintings of scenes from the American south drawn from his personal experiences. He focused more deeply on expressing humanity through his works following his experiences during World War II, and visited Europe later to further study art and philosophy. He developed an interest in collages while experimenting with new art forms using clippings from magazines during the civil rights movement. He helped establish the Harlem-based art group, The Spiral, with fellow African-American artists to discuss their involvement in the movement. As an author, he co-wrote the books 'Six Black Masters of American Art', 'The Painter's Mind' and 'A History of African-American Artists'. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Academy of Design, and received the 'National Medal of Arts' shortly before his death in 1988.