An exhibit highlighting ritual and rhythm in the work of a Harlem Renaissance child comes home to Charlotte.
Mecklenburg County. Trains. Fields. Rocking chairs. Jazz, blues, and back-porch pickin’ — just a few salient symbols that run through “Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections,” an exhibition debuting at the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte. The traveling display showcases approximately 100 pieces by an internationally renowned collagist who had the red clay of North Carolina in his soul.
Despite relocating to Harlem with his family when he was 4 years old, Romare Bearden, one of the nation’s most prominent African-American artists, found inspiration in his Charlotte birthplace. Frequent visits to North Carolina to see his grandparents kept the state fresh in Bearden’s memory. The thematic groupings at the Mint trace the never-before-examined thread of the South’s influence on his oeuvre.
The exhibition opened on September 2, the centennial of Bearden’s birth, and will remain in Charlotte until January 8, 2012, before touring nationally.
Back Porch SerenadeThe banjo and fiddle players pictured in Back Porch Serenade were probably common fixtures during the summer evenings Bearden spent in Charlotte. This scene belongs to a parade of paintings that chronicles Bearden’s personal odyssey through diverse cities and neighborhoods, including Charlotte; Harlem, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Paris, France. The trio of musicians is a recurring theme in Bearden’s works.
Mecklenburg Autumn: October — Toward Paw CreekA rare landscape in the artist’s people-dominated portfolio, Mecklenburg Autumn shows off the unusual texture of Bearden’s collages. Using various papers, as well as graphite, paint, ink, and bleaching agents, Bearden recreated this autumnal Mecklenburg County scene as a part of a series celebrating his home county.
Mint Museum Uptown
Levine Center for the Arts
500 South Tryon Street
Charlotte, N.C. 28202
(704) 337-2000
mintmuseum.org
