Art Appreciation: Romare Bearden, Prevalence of Ritual, Tidings, 1967

Tiffany Walker
Examination 1 Art 220
Dr.J.W. Cyril
Art Appreciation: 9:30 a.m.
10/2/12
Essay

Romare Bearden, Prevalence of Ritual, Tidings, 1967 had a bright mind about the African American culture. Bearden took a little from his background and what he was seeing in his time or that was around him to use in his paintings. In this piece he was using an angel to send a message to the woman as letting her know that things will get better. When I look at this piece I see there is church to go and pray ,or to say that a place that people can go to get a peace of mind .I believe that in this painting that the woman or young lady felt abandon because she is looking down and ashamed. Therefore there is a rose in the painting as well I believe that is symbolizes the young lady worth. It appears someone was giving her a rose to make her feel better. The angel that appears in the painting symbolizes comfort, patience, protection, understanding, and others. Bearden painting symbolizes that the African American struggles were not a joke. In those times it symbolizes that it was still racism going on with our culture. We were losing our jobs, because we had people fighting for our rights, girls that were at the age of twelve had to quit school because they had to help out in their homes. This painting symbolizes a lot of things that was going on in the early and late 1960’s. As I said once before that the angel was there for many reasons as in comfort for the struggle, protection from the pain and destruction, understanding that there will be better times, and jobs. Romare Bearden, Rocket to the Moon, 1971 to me is my favorite painting. It is really a collage fragments build a scene of quiet despair and stoic perservance. You can see in the painting that the rocket is headed to moon; however, while urban life below remains punctuated by a red stop-light. The definition of Stoic is an ancient Greek school of philosophy that asserted that happiness can only be achieved by accepting life’s up and downs. In this painting you have a lot of things that symbolizes the African American culture. The black cat represents the black panthers that were a group of an organization with people who were fighting back for the black people. The picture of Martin Luther King Jr. symbolizes that he was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and he was an activist for the NAACP. I believe that this whole picture symbolizes the Harlem Renaissance that was going on in Harlem, New York. The Harlem Renaissance involves Langston Hughes, the different types of music, different type of dances, and different type of visual arts too. The Harlem Renaissance has brought African American to justice to say we have something we can abide to. I believe that the red light symbolizes to stop the violence and stop the racism. I believe that the green light symbolizes to let’s look at situations in a different way than what the way we see them. Bearden makes an ironic statement, placing that we as African American has accomplished and still are making history every day. Bearden use a great visual statement placing America’s accomplishments in space alongside the stalled social and economic progress of many urban areas. As I come to my conclusion, Bearden use his visual art to describe the past, present, and future. He symbolizes that in Prevalence of Ritual, Tidings, 1967, there was an angel to protect and comfort the young lady through whatever her case was. The rose symbolizes that she has a destiny and a worth. The present symbolizes that we have angels that surrounds us every day. We as women have rights and have a destiny that can be fulfilled if we just hold fast to our dreams. The future reference is to hope for better days, we have rights to do such as vote, and to visual art to is extinct to express who we are , our success, and where we come from.