Romare Bearden: African Americans Of Color

Romare Bearden was an American artist who was born in the South in 1911. As an African American, Bearden sought to convey the experiences shared by Americans of color. Bearden’s early work consisted of more oil paintings, but his work evolved into collage art around 1964. Bearden began using spray paint and other techniques to make the collages seem almost like an oil painting themselves, which added to their complexity and intrigue. The colors and layers of his works were meant to provoke tension and to encourage discussion of the inequality and challenges that Americans of color faced, while also capturing the feel of authenticity of universal black cultures. Using his collage technique, Bearden managed to shine light on how constructed views
of these cultures, especially on rituals and ceremonies, are continually being made. Bearden moved to the Caribbean in the early 1970’s, and Conjur Woman is meant to portray a spiritual healer of the Caribbean culture. Women with these powers were both admired and feared within their society due to the incredible natural powers they appeared to possess, creating a feeling of the sublime. The same islands where Bearden received his Caribbean inspiration of cultural value are now run by tourism, with many of their past rituals disappearing, yet the tourism industry is using some of the culture’s ‘traditional’ and ‘simple’ ways of life as another attraction for the tourists. These islands, due to their natural beauty and the desire to escape into the simpler ways of the past, are now sought after by thousands of tourists searching for an ‘escape’ from city life.