Created by
Bearden, Romare, American, 1911 - 1988
Owned by
Barnett-Aden Gallery, American, 1943 - 1969
Date
1955
Medium
oil on fiberboard
Dimensions
H x W (painting): 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
H x W x D (frame): 28 5/8 × 24 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (72.7 × 62.9 × 3.8 cm)
Caption
Romare Bearden is best known for his collages that celebrate African life and community. However, earlier in his career, his work was firmly integrated within the school of American abstraction. Recalling that period, he stated, "I began experimenting in a radically different way. I started to play with pigments, as such, in marks and patches, distorting natural colors and representational objects." At this juncture, Bearden started to incorporate a range of elements: mathematics, jazz, his studies of classical Japanese portrait painters, and Western painters such as 17th-century Dutch artists Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer. These all served as sources of inspiration for the flatness of his abstraction and his approach to organizing his images within a pictorial space.
Description
This oil painting depicts three abstract figures. Formed out of small rectilinear shapes in bright colors, the figures appear to be moving across an equally abstracted background.
Place made
New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Visual Arts
Type
paintings
Topic
Abstraction
Art
Communities
Urban life
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert L. Johnson
Object number
2015.2.2
Restrictions & Rights
© Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd55a176bef-aad7-4bbe-bbef-5cd8a8eba35d

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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