Muse and method in Romare Bearden's Obeah watercolors

Author

Garcia, Alicia; Powell, Richard J. (Contributor, Collective Author); Di Giulio, Margaret Ellen (Contributor, Collective Author); Trout, Virginia (Contributor, Collective Author); Wang, Christine (Contributor, Collective Author); Garcia, Alicia (Contributor, Collective Author)

Document type

Article (catalogue d'exposition)

Language

English

Book title

Conjuring Bearden

Source

Conjuring Bearden. 2006, 32-47, 8 ill. (6 col.)

Publisher

Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham (NC, USA)

Publication country

United States

Abstract (en)

Situates the 1984 Obeah series in a broader context of the artist's life and work, asserting that it constitutes both the culmination of his interest in material, form, color, and surface as well as a stream of consciousness. Explains formal and thematic sources of the depictions of Obeah women (practitioners of a type of sorcery originating in sub-saharan Africa), observed by the artist in his secondary home in St. Martin. Evaluating the significance of folk religion, magic, and corporeal control, the author suggests that Bearden identified with a "fusion of divine and commonplace" in the African American experience, and that the series' strength lies in its alignment of muse and medium.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1945-present -- Pictorial arts -- Painting and drawing -- United States
• Bearden, Romare Howard, 1911-1988
• United States
• Painting
• Watercolor
• 1900-2000
• Obeah
• Magic
• Women
• West Indies
• West Indians
• Paint
• Surface
• Form
• Color
• Artistic intention
• Artistic life
• Religion
• Human figure
• Sources
• Inspiration
• Mediums
• African Americans
• Blacks

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1945-présent -- Peinture et arts graphiques -- Peinture et dessin -- États-Unis
• Bearden, Romare Howard, 1911-1988
• Etats-Unis
• Peinture
• Aquarelle
• 1900-2000
• Obeah
• Magie
• Femmes
• Antilles
• Antillais
• Peinture (matière)
• Surface
• Forme
• Couleur
• Intention artistique
• Vie artistique
• Religion
• Corps humain
• Sources
• Inspiration
• Médiums
• Afro-Américains
• Noirs

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier20060701-00024930

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