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Romare Bearden, (September 2, 1911, in Charlotte, North Carolina—March 11, 1988 in New York, New York) was an African-American artist and writer. He worked in several media including, cartoons, oils, and collage. The later becoming his most important work.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Published works 3 Honors achieved 4 Works 5 Sources 6 See also 7 External links

Although he was born in Charlotte, before Bearden reached school age his family moved to New York City. His father R. Howard Bearden, worked there as a sanitation inspector for the Department of Health; his mother, the former Bessye J. Banks worked as a New York correspondent for the black newspaper the Chicago Defender.

After being graduated from Manhattan's Public School 139 in 1925, young Bearden moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his grandmother ran a boarding house. Bearden was graduated from Pittsburgh's Peabody High School in 1929, and then pursued a brief career playing professional baseball in the Negro League in Boston, Massachusetts.

Some of Bearden's earliest work was for the Medley, NYU’s former student-run humor magazine. Originally a collection of stories and essays published by the Eucleian Society, the Medley contained poetry, essays, jokes, and illustrations, some reprinted from other college newspapers and literary journals. Continuing through the late 1930's, Bearden, a 1935 graduate of the University continued to publish in the periodical.[1] Bearden graduated from New York University with a degree in education almost immediately began working as a cartoonist for publications that included Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post.

He studied under German artist George Grosz at the Art Students' League in 1936 and 1937. Shortly thereafter he began the first of his stints as a case worker for the New York Department of Social Services. During World War II, Bearden was in the United States Army, serving from 1942 until 1945.

During the 1940s, his style combined African culture and symbols with a stylized realism. Paintings such as his 1948, The Family demonstrate his interest in Cubism and the influence that the style had on his work. After a stay in Paris, Bearden's work became more abstract, using layers of oil paint to produce muted, hidden effects.

During the 1960s civil rights movement, his focus shifted again, this time to collage, which is considered his best work. Excellent examples are in his 1963 series of collages, Prevalence of Ritual.

Romare Bearden is the author of.

• Lil Dan, the Drummer Boy, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003

Romare Bearden is the coauthor of,

• with Harry Henderson, Six Black Masters of American Art, New York: Doubleday, 1972
• with Carl Holty, The Painter's Mind, Taylor & Francis, 1981
• with Harry Henderson, of A History of African-American Artists. From 1792 to present, New York: Pantheon Books 1993

• Founded the 306 Group, a club for Harlem artists
• In 1966 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• In 1972 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters
• In 1987 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts

• She-Ba
• Wrapping it Up At the Lafayette
• Summertime
• Showtime
• Return of the Prodigal Son
• Last of the Blue Devils
• Abstract
• Fisherman
• Falling Star
• The Lantern
• Morning of the Rooster
• The Woodshed
• Piano Lesson
• Carolina Shout
• Rocket to the Moon
• Prevalence of Ritual: Tidings

• Vaughn, William (2000). Encyclopedia of Artists. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-521572-9. 
• Yenser, Thomas (editor) (1930-1931-1932 Third Edition). Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America. Who's Who in Colored America, Brooklyn, New York.  [Provides biography of mother, Bessye J. Bearden]
• Romare Bearden Foundation Biography. Retrieved on October 4, 2005.

• African American art

• The Art of Romare Bearden at the National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Marshall Arts presents Romare Bearden
• Bearden Foundation biography
• Romare Bearden Images: Hollis Taggart Galleries
• "Romare Bearden: The Music in His Art, A Pictorial Odyssey" - by Ronald David Jackson. video, 2005
• Romare Bearden Artwork Examples on AskART.