Romare Bearden (1911–1988) was a brilliant narrative artist, his large collages famously capturing the chromatic choreography of Harlem's bustling streets and the colorfully syncopated geometries of rollicking jazz bands. In 1977, he created 20 collages that transported Homer's Odyssey from Greece to a land reminiscent of North Africa, populating the epic with forms derived from African sculpture, cubist tumult, and the action figures encircling Grecian urns. (This exhibit brings the work together for the first time in 30 years.) Instead of the sliced-up magazine photos familiar from his multi-textured street scenes, Bearden cut kings, queens, columns, arches, trees, ships—all of his characters, sets, and props—from brightly colored paper, as in Matisse's late decoupages. The impact is grand: In Odysseus Leaves Circe, the capricious goddess writhes on her bed, clutching a pink pillow, one blue hand to her black breast as a ship sails into the blue distance; in Cattle of the Sun God, the paper has been delicately sanded, casting an abraded orange glow over a gray herd under green palms. Four 1946 drawings based onThe Iliad show Bearden's searching ink line deftly defining the contours of his warriors' thighs, shoulders, shields, and helmets, and forming dense black clots around their hardened, expressive faces—a revelation of the powerful draftsmanship underpinning his marvels to come.
Courtesy DC Moore Gallery, NY
A North African Homer: Bearden's
Circe, 1977
Details
Romare Bearden: 'A Black Odyssey'
DC Moore
724 Fifth Avenue
Through January 5
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