Romare Bearden / Wrapping it up at the Lafayette / 1974

Romare Bearden
Wrapping it up at the Lafayette
1974
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Creator Name: Bearden, Romare
Creator Nationality: North American; American
Creator Role: Artist
Creator Dates/Places: 1912 - 1988
Biography:

Bearden's birthdate has been given as 1911, 1912, or 1914. The Register of Deeds in Charlotte, North Carolina, his birthplace, record Bearden's date of birth as September 2, 1912.

Gender: M
Creator Birth Place: Charlotte, North Carolina
Creator Name-CRT: Romare Bearden
Title: Wrapping it up at the Lafayette
Title Type: Primary
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: 1974
Creation End Date: 1974
Creation Date: 1974
Object Type: Paintings
Classification Term: Painting
Materials and Techniques: collage, acrylic, and lacquer
Dimensions: Framed: 123.3cm x 93.4cm x 6.7cm, Unframed: 121.9cm x 91.5cm
Inscriptions: Signed bottom right edge on orange background with a felt-tipped marker in a vertical orientation: rom/are bear/den
AMICA Contributor: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 1985.41
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Copyright: Art: © Artist or Artist's Estate/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Rights: www.vaga.org
Context:

Famous for its musical revues and plays during the 1920s and 1930s, the Lafayette Theater in New York's Harlem section made Seventh Avenue and 132nd Street a mecca for those seeking stylish entertainment. In this exhuberant collage, Romare Bearden conveyed the lively rhythm and vibrant color of the Lafayette during its heyday. Using pictures from magazines, scraps of paper, and bits of fabric, Bearden arranged several scenes, as they would appear to the theater audience. The band plays below in the pit, while dancers, and singers perform energetically above on stage. African masks and exotic tree and flower forms decorate a backdrop topped by a scalloped red curtain. Bearden excelled in the medium of collage, using it to express the spirit and reality of African-American culture. Inspired by his love of jazz and memories of his youth, he once explained, "I work out of a response and need to redefine the image of man in terms of the Negro experience I know best." This composition is from his "Of the Blues" series of 1974.

AMICA ID: CMA_.1985.41
AMICA Library Year: 2002
Media Metadata Rights: Copyright, The Cleveland Museum of Art

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