Artwork Page for Wrapping It up at the Lafayette

Details / Information for Wrapping It up at the Lafayette

Wrapping It up at the Lafayette

1974

Romare Bearden

(American, 1912–1988)
Culture
America
Medium
collage, acrylic, and lacquer
Measurements
Framed: 123.3 x 93.4 x 6.7 cm (48 9/16 x 36 3/4 x 2 5/8 in.); Unframed: 121.9 x 91.5 cm (48 x 36 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1985.41
Copyright
© Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Coming of age in New York in the 1930s, Bearden was immersed in the cultural revolution of the Harlem Renaissance. His home was located across the street from Harlem’s Lafayette Theatre, a hub for musicians such as Duke Ellington and Earl Hines. Bearden sought a way to translate the elements of jazz into visual art and discovered that collage was the ideal medium for capturing the spontaneity and improvisation of the genre, thus creating a lively visual rhythm.
Abstracted collage painted in streaking, blotchy color resembling a stage with an orchestra below and scalloped red curtain above. The stage separates into four quadrants. Geometric figures on our lower left in pink trousers and orange and yellow shirts against a dark blue background move single-file towards centerstage. Lower right, figures in bras and underwear dance against an orange background. All figures have dark purple or orange-red skin. Above, geometric green foliage extends over purple on our right and blue our left.

Wrapping It up at the Lafayette

1974

Romare Bearden

(American, 1912–1988)
America

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