Between 1952 and 1964, the African American artist, author, and songwriter Romare Bearden (1911-1988) created a large body of abstract watercolors, oil paintings, and collages. Exhibited with success at the time of their execution, these artworks are little known today. Nonetheless, they directly inform the collages for which Bearden is now best known. This exhibition provides a chronology and context for the period during which he produced his abstractions, filling in missing information and bookending this decade of work. The beginning of this exhibit includes examples of the artist’s figural abstract watercolors from the 1940s, as well as some of his earliest abstract works in watercolor and collage from the 1950s. From there, we move on to explore Bearden’s large-scale and miniature abstractions, as well as examples of his later work from the mid-1960s. Altogether, this exhibition tells the story of a historically neglected but extraordinary and critically important aspect of Bearden’s body of work.
Please note: This is an in-person, off-site field trip.
Enrollment is limited to 12 attendees. The start time is 2:00 p.m.
This tour will be guided by a museum Docent Specialist. Romare Bearden: Abstraction is on display through May 15, 2022, in Taubman Gallery I at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Elderwise attendees should assemble at the Museum Shop in the new wing. Museum of Art, 525 South State Street.