Skip to Main Content

 Admission is always freeOpen today: 10:00  to 5:00  Directions             Play Artle            

                  -  Visit                      - Visit
                    - Getting Here
                    - Accessibility
                    - Tours, Guides & Maps
                    - Food & Drink
                    - Gallery Shops
                    - Visitor Policies 
                  -  Collection                      - Collection
                    - Highlights
                    - Search the Collection
                    - Artists Search
                    - Acquisition Highlights
                    - Stories
                    - Games 
                  -  Exhibitions                      - Exhibitions
                    - Current
                    - Special Installations
                    - Upcoming
                    - On Tour
                    - Past 
                  -  Calendar                      - Calendar
                    - Films
                    - Performances
                    - Talks
                    - Guided Tours
                    - After Hours
                    - Fun for Kids
                    - Festivals
                    - Workshops 
                  -  Learn                      - Learn
                    - Teachers
                    - Families
                    - Teens
                    - Adults
                    - Learning Resources
                    - Music Programs
                    - Film Programs 
                  -  Conservation                      - Conservation
                    - Projects
                    - Publications
                    - Resources 
                  -  Research                      - Research
                    - The Center
                    - Publications
                    - Make an Appointment
                    - Archives
                    - Library
                    - NGA Online Editions 
                  -  Support                      - Support
                    - Donate Now
                    - National Membership
                    - Circle Membership
                    - Leadership Groups
                    - Planned Giving
                    - Major Giving
                    - Gifts of Art 
                  -  Shop                      - Shop
                    - Books
                    - Jewelry
                    - Apparel & Accessories
                    - Kids
                    - NGA Custom Prints 
                  -  Play Artle

Home>Research>Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts>Research Projects>Members' Research Report Archive>Amy Helene Kirschke, 2016–2017

About Fellowships

Senior Fellowships

Visiting Senior Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Center/YCBA Postdoctoral Fellowships

Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowships

Center Members

Members’ Presentations

Former Members

Members’ Research Reports, 2011–2018

About Center Meetings

Recent & Upcoming Meetings

A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Wyeth Foundation for American Art Programs

Sydney J. Freedberg Lectures on Italian Art

Research at the Center

The Index of American Design

History of Early American Landscape Design

The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635

About the Center Publications

Recent & Upcoming Publications

Reflections on the Collection: The Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professors at the National Gallery of Art

Studies in the History of Art

Seminar Papers

*Center Report*

From the *Bulletin*

Research Publications

Special Publications

National Gallery of Art Shop

# Members' Research Report Archive

*Black Ink: Romare Bearden's Political Cartoons*

**Amy Helene Kirschke**, University of North Carolina WilmingtonAilsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow, June 15–August 15, 2016

Romare Bearden, “Freed through United Effort,” final cartoon, *Baltimore Afro-American*, May 8, 1937

Romare Bearden (1911–1989) was active as a political cartoonist in New York in 1935–1937. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was part of the African American Great Migration; his parents relocated to Harlem when he was a young child and later to Pittsburgh. He visited the South and his relatives regularly during his childhood. His memories of the South and the industrial North would figure in his paintings, prints, and collages. Bearden’s later, better-known work is not political in nature; it was through the cartoons he produced in his twenties that he addressed social injustice. During my CASVA fellowship, I wrote a first draft of my book “Black Ink: The Political Cartoons of Romare Bearden.” My account establishes that Bearden was able to turn to his own family history as the subject of his later works only after he had dealt with issues of political and civil rights in his cartoons.

Bearden craved community and would find a vibrant artistic one in Harlem, as well as at the Arts Students League in New York. He knew contemporary events and came by his interest in newspapers honestly; beginning in 1927, his mother, Bessye, served as the New York editor of the black newspaper *Chicago Defender*, a rich source of political cartoons available to the young artist in his family environment. Bessye Bearden’s home was a salon; her circle of friends included authors Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and George Schuler as well as musicians Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, actor Paul Robeson, and *Crisis*editor W. E. B. DuBois. All of these influences helped form Bearden’s worldview.

Bearden attended Lincoln University and then Boston University, where he had the opportunity to draw playful cartoons for the university magazine *Beanpot*. In 1932 he transferred to New York University. It was there that he developed a passion for cartooning; his work began to appear in the NYU publication *Medley*in December 1933, and he was appointed art editor in 1934. While attending university, he was also an illustrator for the NAACP magazine *Crisis*and the Urban League’s *Opportunity*. In his essay “The Negro Artist and Modern Art” (1934), Bearden asserted that black artists should make art that was liberated from “the outmoded academic practices of the past” (a white paradigm for art) and create art that accurately reflected the black experience.

In “The Development of the Cartoon in the United States,” an undergraduate paper written at NYU, Bearden noted the importance of the cartoonist: “This type of propaganda . . . does much more than the editorial, or news item can do. In fact, much of the average man’s opinion of the foreign nations [has] been gotten through seeing these stereotype figures day after day.” While attending NYU, Bearden also studied at the Arts Students League under German political artist George Grosz (1893 – 1959), who, Bearden later stated, was a profound influence on his life. Bearden’s cartooning would take the same direction as Grosz’s: illustrating political and social injustice. His almost obsessive interest in building an artistic community led to his involvement in founding the Harlem Arts Guild, the Harlem Community Arts Center, and the 306 Group. In 1935, Bearden took a position as a caseworker in the New York City department of social services, where he remained for almost twenty years. The job provided him with inspiration for addressing social justice and would influence his later paintings and collages.

From September 1935 to May 1937, Bearden was on the staff of the *Baltimore Afro-American*, the third largest African American newspaper in the United States, for which he created a weekly editorial cartoon. These cartoons are the focus of my book. His favorite subjects, which often were not accompanied by an editorial, included the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the justice system, labor, and the black vote. He recognized that political illustration could influence the readership to take action, to confront the most painful issues that black Americans faced. “The cartoon,” he had written in his undergraduate paper, “is one of the most powerful instruments for the up-building or the suppression of private and public ambition that is permitted to exist under the sacred and inviolable protection of the freedom of the press. . . . It can also exercise a great influence as regards its power to . . . direct social change. By social change I mean that society defines a particular situation, and then through its agencies of propaganda forces an individual or group to conform to its standards.”

By the late 1930s, Bearden was ready to move past cartoons and social realism to painting, never to return to cartooning. His paintings, prints, and collages, rich with memory and identity, reflect his personal history, including his time as a political cartoonist shortly before World War II.

*Center 37*

                  - Bearden, Romare
                  - American , 1911 - 1988

### Stay connected

Learn more about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers.

About
          - About the National Gallery
          - Stories
          - Press
          - FAQs
          - Contact Us

Plan a Visit
          - Getting Here
          - Accessibility
          - Today's Tours
          - Food & Drink
          - Calendar
          - Downloadable Map

Get Involved
          - Donate
          - Membership
          - Volunteer
          - Opportunities
          - Shop Online

Resources
          - Search the Collection
          - Conservation
          - Library
          - Archives
          - The Center
          - Film Programs
          - Music Programs
          - Audio/Video
          - Open Access Images

Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

**West Building**6th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed.*

**East Building**4th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 4th Street.*

**Sculpture Garden**7th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive.*

We are closed on December 25 and January 1.

*The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.*

          -  Twitter 
          -  Facebook 
          -  Instagram 
          -  Pinterest 
          -  YouTube 

© 2024 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy