Tag: Up to Minton’s

[On becoming an artist]...become a blues singer - only you sing on the canvas

Deeply inspired by jazz and blues, Bearden loved to improvise in his art much like musicians. In becoming an artist, he would say “become a blues singer – only you sing on the canvas. You improvise — you find the rhythm and catch it good, and structure as you go along – then the song is you.” (NGA.gov)

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Bearden’s painting Up at Minton’s is based on the iconic Minton’s Playhouse, a jazz dinner club located in the Cecil Hotel in Harlem, New York City. The club was started by saxophonist Henry Minton in 1938 and is credited as the birthplace of Bebop (aka Modern Jazz). Since the 1940’s, Minton’s has hosted an extensive roster of players namely, Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. The club closed in 1974 and was reopened in 2006; closed again in 2010 to reopen in 2012. Today, under proprietor, Earl Spain, the new Minton’s Playhouse has an active calendar of today’s musicians.

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About the Artist

This move surely represented a 180-degrees in that Bearden was exposed to the vibrant arts and sounds of the bustling Harlem community.

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As a growing teenager and young adult, Bearden would decide to become an artist; routinely visit family in North Carolina and spend summers working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He went to New York University for schooling and also studied art history and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

As an artist, Bearden’s work is prolific and crosses multiple media such as painting, collage, and sculpture. This is among the many things I admire and take from Romare Bearden. It is that as an artist, you don’t have to be “married” to one media such as textiles or paint. Since art is about expressing and sharing your thoughts, you can represent your art in as many ways as necessary.

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His work has influences from world culture, music, design, and life. Much of his work depicts African American life in the South and the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s which captured the emergence of the arts by African Americans in the United States.

Romare Bearden had great interests in celebrating and promoting the work of African American artists. He formed an art collective called Spiral, which allowed its members to discuss exhibiting art that would comment on the Civil Rights Movement. Bearden’s art career and achievements are something to be admired. His work can be found permanently in the Smithsonian Museum, Metropolitan Museum and many others.

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In 1990, the Romare Bearden Foundation was formed to promote and sustain Bearden’s legacy as a prominent African-American artist.

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What inspires me about Romare Bearden

I choose Bearden because he was a prolific artist in different medium. As he said – “become a blues singer – only you sing on the canvas. You improvise — you find the rhythm and catch it good, and structure as you go along – then the song is you.” This to me, embodies what I strive to do as an artist. That is, to step into the world I am purveying, learn the cadences to make the art tell a story. Then, I keep it moving. – Angela

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Resources

• Bearden, Lawrence and Carrie Mae Weems: Flomenhaft Showcases Black Art
  Art Observer, March 4, 2012
  http://www.artsobserver.com/2012/03/04/bearden-lawrence-and-carrie-mae-weems-flomenhaft-gallery-showcases-black-art/
  
• Minton’s Playhouse. https://mintonsharlem.com/
  
• Romare Bearden Foundation. https://beardenfoundation.org
  
• Romare Bearden, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romare_Bearden
  
• Romare Bearden. National Gallery of Art (NGA). https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/an-eye-for-art/AnEyeforArt-RomareBearden.pdf
  
• Romare Bearden. Smithsonian Museum. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/romare-bearden-296
  
• Romare Bearden Catalog Raisonne Project. Wildenstein Plattner Institute.https://wpi.art/2020/09/02/announcing-the-romare-bearden-digital-catalogue-raisonne/