Author(s): Esther Adler

Art and Photography

Romare Bearden's art speaks powerfully of specific, often disregarded, life experiences while making them broadly accessible. Patchwork Quilt (1970), a monumental composition dominated by a prone figure and bands of fabric unfolding across the composition, was acquired by The Museum of Modern Art the year it was made, and quickly became a landmark in Bearden's career. But his place in art history has been hard to define-his exploration of a number of visual styles and strategies prior to embracing collage, his non-linear artistic development, his early bristling at an expectation that he embrace a defined role of Black Artist, and his boundless generosity to others struggling for opportunities to make and exhibit their work positions him as an outlier in traditional art historical narratives. In this latest volume of the MoMA One on One series, curator Esther Adler explores Bearden's complicated centrality in mid-twentieth century art, and the continuing reach of his legacy.