Romare Bearden in the Homeland of His Imagination

Romare Bearden (19111988), one of the most prolific, original, and acclaimed American artists of the twentieth century,richly depictedscenes and figures rooted in the American South and the Black experience. Bearden hailed from North Carolina but was forced to relocate to the North when a white mob harassedhis familyin the 1910s. His family story is a compelling, complicated saga of Black middle-class achievement in the face of relentless waves of white supremacy. It is also a narrative of the generational trauma that slavery and racism inflicted over decades. But as Glenda Gilmore reveals in this trenchant reappraisal of Beardens life and art, his work revealshisdeep imagination, extensive training, and rich knowledgeof art history.Gilmore explores four generations of Beardens family and highlights his experiencesinNorth Carolina,Pittsburgh,and Harlem. She engages deeply withBeardens artand considers itas an alternative archive that offers a unique perspective on the history, memory, and collective imagination ofBlack southerners who migrated to the North. In doing so, she revises and deepens our appreciation of Beardens place in the artistic canon and our understanding of his relationship to southern, African American, and American cultural and social history.