Romare Bearden

While best known for his collages, Romare Bearden (1912-1988) chose a variety of different mediums to express himself as an artist. In addition to paintings and drawings, he created murals, tapestries, and posters, and in several instances he composed music to accompany his works. A gregarious man with a passion for jazz, he described art-making as "a kind of divine play." Bearden grew up in Harlem and in Pittsburgh, and studied painting with George Grosz at the Art Students League. Following service in an all-black regiment during World War II, he returned to New York, where he became immersed in a thriving art scene. Bearden's work reflects many influences: the places he lived and traveled, African American history and literature, and religious traditions and community rituals that bound people together. In 1987 president Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Arts.