{"id":1347,"date":"2013-02-13T01:22:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T06:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2013-05-06T21:38:46","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T01:38:46","slug":"exhibition-review-romare-bearden-a-black-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/exhibition-review-romare-bearden-a-black-odyssey\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition Review: Romare Bearden “A Black Odyssey”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cattle<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Paul Bright<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey”\u00a0at Reynolda House Museum of Art\u00a0in Winston-Salem, North Carolina<\/p>\n

This currently travelling exhibition is centered on fifteen of the twenty collages that American artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988) created and showed as a group in 1977, in response to Homer\u2019s Odyssey<\/em>. They are joined by a watercolour series reprising the collages, along with nine ink wash drawings from a 1946 series on the Iliad<\/em>, and three other thematically-related collages.<\/p>\n

The collages in this exhibition, with the exception of one appended piece, House in Cotton Field<\/em> (1968), depart from Bearden\u2019s well-known style of dada and cubist-inflected photo-montages. The “Odyssey” works vary in size and format from about 12 x 14 to 36 x 48 inches, employing mostly flat, unmodulated cut sections of paper, adhered in layers, with occasional inclusions of graphite or paint. In shape and scale, the paper elements range from broad and generalized to minute and descriptive. The watercolours fill the void left by the absence of five of the collages, but they lack the tension between actual, layered surface and depiction which makes the collages so satisfying.<\/p>\n

One of the delights of a successful collage is the way material layering functions both as manifestation of, and metaphor for, strata of many kinds. Bearden accesses and reveals many layers in these works: cultural, aesthetic, and temporal. His approach and palette are reminiscent of Matisse\u2019s cutout series \u201cJazz,\u201d and I had a wonderful \u201cconceptual collage\u201d moment; viewing the work of an African American responding to a Mediterranean myth while also paying homage to a white European artist who was, in turn, inspired by the energy and vitality of a hybrid African-American musical form (and after having made his own attempt at interpreting Homer through the lens of James Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/em>)!<\/p>\n

These are collages in a resonant sense, referring to other \u201ccollages\u201d all the way back Homer, who, in writing the Odyssey<\/em>, was likely collating age-old myths.<\/p>\n

Matisse certainly swims with Bearden in the quasi-abstract and virtuosic swirls of The Sea Nymph<\/em>, while physical spontaneity and assurance are abundantly evident in the generously-scaled Poseidon, the Sea God-Enemy of Odysseus<\/em>, where Bearden depicts him like a surly Benin king. The figures in Circe Turns a Companion of Odysseus into a Swine<\/em> recall those on Greek black-figure ceramics (Bearden riffs on blackness, and uses \u201cblack\u201d figures throughout these works), while the scale-shifts and the radically flattened space recall aspects of Trecento painting.<\/p>\n

Bearden\u2019s \u201cOdysseus Series\u201d collages posit the Greek\u2019s travails as layered and metaphoric, emphasizing their universality as images from a narrative of eternal returns.<\/p>\n

This exhibition was organized by SITES\/the Smithsonian Institution, in cooperation with the Romare Bearden Foundation and Estate, and DC Moore Gallery. Catalog available.<\/p>\n

“Romare Bearden: A Black\u00a0Odyssey” is traveling around the United States, 2012-2014, on the following schedule:<\/p>\n

13 October 2012-13 January 2013: \u00a0Reynolda House<\/a>, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
\n2 February-28 April 2013: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art<\/a>, Memphis, Tennessee
\n18 May-11 August 2013: Amon Carter Museum of American Art<\/a>, Fort Worth, Texas
\n31 August-24 November 2013: Chazen Museum of Art<\/a>, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
\n14 December 2013-9 March 2014: Michael C. Carlos Museum<\/a>, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
\n29 March-22 June 2014: Currier Museum of Art<\/a>, Manchester, New Hampshire
\n12 July-5 October 2014: Wallach Art Gallery<\/a>, Columbia University, New York, New York<\/p>\n

This Exhibition Review originally appeared in Issue Three. To see other Reviews from the world of collage,\u00a0SUBSCRIBE<\/a>\u00a0to Kolaj or\u00a0\u00a0PURCHASE ISSUE THREE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Image:<\/strong>
\nCattle of the Sun God<\/em>
\nby Romare Bearden
\nCollage
\n1977<\/p>\n

Courtesy Ann and Sheldon Vogel<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Paul Bright “Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey”\u00a0at Reynolda House Museum of Art\u00a0in Winston-Salem, North Carolina This currently travelling exhibition is centered on fifteen of the twenty collages that American artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988) created and showed as a group…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,26],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cattle-of-Sun-GodWEB.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QTD7-lJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1099,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/romare-bearden-a-black-odyssey-at-reynolda-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":0},"title":"“Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey” at Reynolda House","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"1 December 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"13 October 2012 -13 January 2013 In 1977, Romare Bearden (1911\u20131988), one of the most powerful and original artists of the 20th century, created a cycle of collages and watercolours based on Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Rich in symbolism and allegorical content, Bearden's \"Odysseus Series\" created an artistic bridge\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/CirceWEB1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8055,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/articles\/speak-be-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":1},"title":"Speak & Be True","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"12 April 2019","format":"gallery","excerpt":"FROM KOLAJ 25 A review of Mary Schmidt Campbell\u2019s An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden Romare Bearden\u2019s life intersected squarely with the battle over representation of black experience in America. He spent his childhood at the heart of the New Negro Movement in New York City.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/c11pla003_Patchwork-Quilt.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/c11pla003_Patchwork-Quilt.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/c11pla003_Patchwork-Quilt.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/c11pla003_Patchwork-Quilt.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11839,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/abstraction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":2},"title":"Abstraction","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"24 November 2021","format":"gallery","excerpt":"La Primavera by Romare Bearden44\"x56\"; various papers with fabric, paint, ink, and graphite on fiberboard; 1967. Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Museum Purchase, Derby Fund from the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art 1930\u20131970. \u00a9 Romare Bearden Foundation \/ VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-la-primavera.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-la-primavera.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-la-primavera.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-la-primavera.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15723,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/collage-in-dialogue\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":3},"title":"Collage in Dialogue","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"27 August 2024","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Fish Fry by Romare Bearden (1911-1988)29.875\"x39.875\"; collage of various papers on paper board; 1967. signed; \u00a9 Romare Bearden Foundation \/ Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY COLLAGE ON VIEW Romare Bearden & Nancy Grossman: Collage in Dialogue at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-fish-fry.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-fish-fry.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-fish-fry.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-fish-fry.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7851,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/under-construction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":4},"title":"Under Construction","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"6 February 2019","format":"gallery","excerpt":"COLLAGE ON VIEW Under Construction: Collage from the Mint Museum at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA 1 December 2018-18 August 2019 Drawing together nearly 100 works from the museum\u2019s Modern & Contemporary Collection, \"Under Construction: Collage from The Mint Museum\" is the museum\u2019s first exhibition to focus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-guitar-magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-guitar-magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-guitar-magic.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-guitar-magic.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11518,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/black-beauty\/","url_meta":{"origin":1347,"position":5},"title":"Black Beauty","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"26 August 2021","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Sports: Hartford Mural by Romare Bearden18\"x14\"; collage on fiberboard; 1980. Courtesy of Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans. COLLAGE ON VIEW Black Beauty at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 7 August-18 September 2021 \"Black Beauty\", curated by Tim Francis, is a group exhibition of contemporary icons and today\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-sports.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-sports.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-sports.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/romare-bearden-sports.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}