NYAB Event - Romare Bearden "The Paper of Truth"

Romare Bearden "The Paper of Truth"

Weill Art Gallery/ 92nd Y

This event has ended.

The Paper of Truth exhibition of Romare Bearden features 44 works on paper—watercolors, collages and mixed media pieces—from the Collection of Russell Goings and Evelyn Boulware, including a self-portrait (drawing) that Bearden made just days before his death and two series, The Odyssey and The Historical Figures.

Bearden made several versions of The Odyssey – but the 22-piece series in the 92Y exhibition has not been shown in its entirety in New York in over thirty years. The series employs the narrative line of Homer’s The Odyssey as a metaphor for the experiences of the African Diaspora as well as Bearden’s family’s migration from North Carolina to Harlem in 1920. The images are imbued with African spirituality and culture, but its themes – the hero, the quest, temptation, honor, longing – are universally shared.

The Historical Figures series – which has never been exhibited in New York – is a small collection of portraits of people of all races who helped to shape African-American history and culture, including: Crispus Attucks; Osceola; John Brown; Harriet Tubman; and Rosa Parks. The drawings were made with felt tip pen on porous paper, demonstrating both Bearden's skill as a draftsman and the musicality of his line.

Media

• Painting
• Other

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