Romare Bearden: Abstraction

Between 1952 and 1964, Romare Bearden created a large body of abstract watercolors, oil paintings, and collages. Exhibited with success at the time of their execution, these artworks are little known today. Nonetheless, they directly inform the collages for which Bearden is now best known.

This exhibition provides a chronology and context for the period during which he produced his abstractions, filling in missing information and bookending this decade of work. The beginning of this show includes examples of the artist’s figural abstract watercolors from the 1940s, as well as some of his earliest abstract works in watercolor and collage from the 1950s. From there, the show moves on to explore Bearden’s large-scale and miniature abstractions, as well as examples of his later work from the mid 1960s. Altogether, Romare Bearden: Abstraction tells the story of a historically neglected but extraordinary and critically important aspect of his body of work.

Black artists have worked in Abstract Expressionism for decades, creating some of the most thought-provoking, innovative works. Yet, art historical narratives on abstract expressionism tend to exclude the contributions and innovations of Black artists. In conjunction with Romare Bearden: Abstraction, UMMA has gathered together a selection of works in our collection from Black abstract expressionist artists for you to explore.