This exhibition explores musical expression through Romare Bearden’s work. Growing up during the Harlem Renaissance, poet Langston Hughes and pianist Fats Waller were guests in the Bearden home. Bearden wrote songs for Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie.  Like jazz musicians, Bearden improvised as he worked, his collages being compared to jazz extemporization with the interplay of characters and improvisation of the materials used. Always driven by a deliberate style, but not always knowing exactly where it may lead, the collage would begin to reveal itself. 

In partnership with Bank of America, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, The Mint Museum of Art, and The Jerald Melberg Gallery.