Romare Bearden papers
name: label: Creator
content: Bearden, Romare (1911-1988)
label: Names
content: Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977
label: Names
content: Holty, Carl, 1900-1973
label: Names
content: Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000
label: Names
content: Middleton, Samuel M., 1927-
label: Names
content: Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: Works of art
label: Topic
content: Painting
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Romare Bearden lent material for microfilming to the Archives of American Art in 1968, donating the correspondence. Bearden also gave additional papers between 1977 and 1983.
creator: label: Creator
content: Bearden, Romare (1911-1988)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Romare Bearden papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Romare Bearden measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1982. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, writings by and about Bearden, miscellaneous legal and financial material, photographs, drawings, and printed material. Found are numerous letters referring to African-American arts movements of the 1960s and 1970s, including exhibitions, publications, associations, and scattered letters of a more personal nature.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1914, Bearden's family relocated to New York City when Bearden was a toddler. Living in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Bearden was exposed to such luminaries as writer Langston Hughes, painter Aaron Douglas, and musician Duke Ellington. While attending New York University, Bearden became interested in cartooning and became the art editor of the NYU Medley in his senior year. He received his B.S. in mathematics in 1935, initially planning to pursue medical school. Realizing that he had little interest in the other sciences however, Bearden began attending classes at the Art Students League in the evenings, studying under George Grosz.

In the mid-1930s Bearden published numerous political cartoons in journals and newspapers, including the Afro-American, but by the end of the decade, he shifted his emphasis to painting. Bearden's first paintings, on large sheets of brown paper, recalled his early memories of the South. After serving in the Army, Bearden began exhibiting more frequently, particularly in Washington, D.C. at the G Street Gallery and in New York with Samuel Kootz.

During a career lasting almost half a century, Bearden produced approximately two thousand works. Although best known for the collages of urban and southern scenes that he first experimented with in the mid-1960s, Bearden also completed paintings, drawings, monotypes, edition prints, public murals, record album jackets, magazine and book illustrations, and costume and set designs for theater and ballet. His work focused on religious subjects, African-American culture, jazz clubs and brothels, and history and literature. Not confining his abilities to the visual arts, Bearden also devoted attention to writing and song writing. Several of his collaborations were published as sheet music, among the most famous of which is "Seabreeze," recorded by Billy Eckstine. In addition, Bearden coauthored three full-length books: The Painter's Mind: A Study of the Relations of Structure and Space in Painting (1969) with painter Carl Holty; Six Black Masters of American Art (1972); and A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present (posthumously, 1993), the latter two with journalist Harry Henderson.

Bearden was also active in the African-American arts movement of the period, serving as art director of the Harlem Cultural Council, a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and organizer of exhibitions, such as the Metropolitan Museum's "Harlem on My Mind" (1968). Romare Bearden died in 1988.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1937-1982
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bearroma
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Exhibition catalogs
label: Type
content: Maps
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into seven series based on type of materials. Documents within each of the seven series have been arranged in chronological order, except for the writings which have been further subdivided by creator and are undated. Printed materials have been arranged primarily according to form of material and are in rough chronological order.

Series 1: Biographical, 1977, undated (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-1981, undated (Box 1-2; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings By and About Bearden, circa 1950s-1980s (Box 3; 6 folders)

Series 4: Legal and Financial Material, 1970-1977 (Box 3; 3 folders)

Series 5: Photographs, undated (Box 3; 2 folders)

Series 6: Drawings, undated (Box 3, OV 6; 4 folders)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1937-1982 (Box 3-5; 1 linear foot)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: All accessions were merged and fully processed, arranged, and described in 2003 by Barbara Aikens. A portion of an earlier loan that was microfilmed on reel N/68-87 was merged and processed with the later accessions.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The papers of Romare Bearden in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2005, and total 2217 images.

Material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reel N68-87 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Exhibition catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Maps -- Paris (France)
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Romare Bearden measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1982. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, writings by and about Bearden, miscellaneous legal and financial material, photographs, drawings, and printed material.

Correspondence is with family, friends, artists, galleries, museums, publishers, universities, arts associations, and colleagues, primarily concerning gallery space, exhibitions, sales of artwork, publishing, and arts events. Also found are numerous letters referring to African-American art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, including exhibitions, publications, associations, and scattered letters of a more personal nature. Many of the letters are illustrated with Bearden's doodlings and drawings. Although most of the letters are from galleries, museums, publishers, and arts associations, scattered letters from Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, Ad Reinhardt, Carl Holty, and Sam Middleton are found. In addition, there are letters from the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and letters concerning its founding.

Writings by Bearden include lectures, speeches, talks, essays, and prose. Many are handwritten, annotated, and edited in Bearden's hand and several are illustrated with Bearden's doodlings and sketches. Included are a memorial delivered upon artist Carl Holty's death, a tribute to Zell Ingram, autobiographical essays, essays on art, and African-American art, artists, and cultural life. Also found are several handwritten examples of Bearden's prose and poetry. There are also writings by others and one folder of fragments and notes assumed to be by Bearden.

The collection houses two folders of photographs and snapshots of Bearden, family members, other unidentified artists or friends, classes and/or lectures, and works of art. Also found are several undated ink drawings, sketches in pencil and ink, and a hand-drawn and colored map with overlay of Paris. Printed material includes examples of Bearden's commissioned artwork for publications, press releases, exhibition catalogs and announcements, invitations, newspaper and magazine clippings, and miscellaneous printed materials. Although much of the printed material concerns Bearden's work, a fair portion concerns African-American art, artists, and cultural movements.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Within the Archives holdings are two oral history interviews with Romare Bearden. One was conducted in 1968 by Henri Ghent and another in 1980 by Avis Berman.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel N68-87) including correspondence, a scrapbook, photographs, catalogs, clippings, and writings. Except for the correspondence, loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.