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Romare Bearden By Jenna Morgenstern
Lifetime RomareBearden was born September 2, 1911 to Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina. His family moved to New York City and settled in Harlem, but Bearden lived with his grandparents in Pittsburg, where he attended Peabody high school.It was in the summer of 1922 Romare‘s Pittsburg neighbor gave him his first drawing lessons.
Lifetime In his college years, while transferring from Lincoln University to Boston University, he became star pitcher on the varsity baseball team and still took many art courses at the same time. Bearden graduated from NYU with Bachelor of science education in 1935, and from 1935 to 1937 he published weekly cartoons in The Afro-American(of Baltimore).
Lifetime In 1940 Bearden had his first solo exhibition of his artwork But his career really started booming from 1951-1970 when Bearden has many art shows and even opens Bluebird Music Company with Dave Ellis In 1954 Romare even marries Nannette Rohan, whom he met at a hurricane benefit.
Lifetime Throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s Bearden held many prestigious positions and received many awards for his artwork and help in promoting the bettering of blacks.
Some achievements… • 1987 Presented with the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence, by President Ronald Reagan. • 1988 Receives post humous Lifetime Achievement Award from The Studio Museum in Harlem. • 1985 Honored by the New York Artists Equity Association for Lifetime of Artistic Achievement and Devotion to Fellow Artists’ Interests. • 1978 Receives Freedom Fighter Award from the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Inspiration and Influence Bearden’s mother Bessye, was the head reporter for the leading black newspaper. This attracted many influential writers, intellectuals and artists. Like, Charles Alston, Aaron Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, and Fats Waller. In 1931, he met Elmer Simms Campbell, the first black cartoonist, who later inspired him to write cartoon articles for the college campus newspaper.
For More about Romare Bearden, his Life, accomplishments, and artwork, go to the official Romare Bearden Foundation Website at http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml
Works Cited • http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/timeline/timeline_test/bearden%20_timeline2.htm • http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml • http://www.romare-bearden.com/ (picture of Bearden ) • http://3502imageandnarration.blogspot.com/2010/03/artist-of-week-romare-bearden.html (artwork of Bearden’s)