Article
Magazine: Spring /Summer 2011
Romare Bearden is best known for his collages, which he began making in 1963, after several decades of painting in a linear, semi-abstract style. As cofounder of the African American artists' collective Spiral, Bearden created his first collages for their inaugural exhibition by juxtaposing photographic enlargements of magazine clippings and colored paper, relaying human narratives of urban and rural African American life. As the writer Ralph Ellison expressed, Bearden's collages convey the "sharp breaks, leaps in consciousness, distortions, paradoxes, reversals, telescoping of time and Surreal blending of styles, values, hopes and dreams which characterize much of Negro American history."
Produced in 1979, Fall of Troy and Odysseus Leaves Nausicaa belong to a suite of six color screenprints inspired by the success of Bearden's spring 1977 exhibition in New York City, which featured twenty large collages known as the Odysseus series. By this time, Bearden had moved away from using photo- graphic reproductions in his collages, and was working with colored paper in a mode suggesting Henri Matisse's late paper cutouts, creating a simpler, less adorned, and more angular look.
Bearden's fascination with Homer, first manifest in an exhibition of ink drawings and watercolors called The Illiad: 16 Variations (1949), culminates in these vibrant collages, which begin with Fall of Troy and end with Odysseus and Penelope Reunited. Produced in an edition of 125, the screenprints reveal an essential geometry that underlies the profusion of architectural and natural forms characteristic of Bearden's settings for these pivotal scenes.
In recasting the legendary Greek protagonists as dark-skinned figures, Bearden not only represents an ideal collage of global cultures but makes this heroic tale of exile, adversity, and homecoming more relevant to black audiences. "It's universal," he said, "So if a child in Benin or in Louisiana sees my paintings of Odysseus, he can understand the myth better." Bridging classical mythology and African American culture, these prints are a significant addition to the Museum's representation of Bearden's work and provide an opportunity to engage in dialogue across centuries with other Homeric scenes in the collection.
Produced in 1979, Fall of Troy and Odysseus Leaves Nausicaa belong to a suite of six color screenprints inspired by the success of Bearden's spring 1977 exhibition in New York City, which featured twenty large collages known as the Odysseus series. By this time, Bearden had moved away from using photo- graphic reproductions in his collages, and was working with colored paper in a mode suggesting Henri Matisse's late paper cutouts, creating a simpler, less adorned, and more angular look.
Bearden's fascination with Homer, first manifest in an exhibition of ink drawings and watercolors called The Illiad: 16 Variations (1949), culminates in these vibrant collages, which begin with Fall of Troy and end with Odysseus and Penelope Reunited. Produced in an edition of 125, the screenprints reveal an essential geometry that underlies the profusion of architectural and natural forms characteristic of Bearden's settings for these pivotal scenes.
In recasting the legendary Greek protagonists as dark-skinned figures, Bearden not only represents an ideal collage of global cultures but makes this heroic tale of exile, adversity, and homecoming more relevant to black audiences. "It's universal," he said, "So if a child in Benin or in Louisiana sees my paintings of Odysseus, he can understand the myth better." Bridging classical mythology and African American culture, these prints are a significant addition to the Museum's representation of Bearden's work and provide an opportunity to engage in dialogue across centuries with other Homeric scenes in the collection.
