A Bearden Celebration

February 2014 - Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art. Panel discussion includes Spiral artists Emma Amos, Reginald Gammon, and Richard Mayhew; Camille Billops, Hatch-Billops Collection; Floyd Coleman, professor of art, Howard University; moderated by Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In celebration of The Art of Romare Bearden exhibition, on view September 14, 2003, through January 4, 2004, at the National Gallery of Art, Ruth Fine illuminates the artist's career, placing his extraordinary oeuvre in the context of his times. A panel discussion follows, featuring original members of Spiral—a group of African American artists, including Bearden, who gathered in the 1960s in response to the civil rights movement. Drawn from more than 85 museums and private collections, this comprehensive retrospective features 131 works, from paintings, drawings, and watercolors, to monotypes and edition prints, collages, photostats, wood sculpture, designs for record albums, costumes, stage sets, and book illustrations. Many of the works represent places where Bearden lived and worked, including the rural south, Pittsburgh, New York, and the Caribbean island of St. Martin.