17-B Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964
Look closely at all the parts of this collage.
Find these elements: Dove, Black cat, White cat
Describe the setting for this scene. It is a city street. Some students may know this is a Harlem neighborhood in New York City.
What architectural details would you see on a city street? Complicated but weathered wooden moldings surround the doors and windows; there are steps, and grids on some windows. The fire escape has a wrought iron railing.
Where did Bearden repeat textures in the shape of brick? He repeated these textures above the street, in the upper half of the composition.
What do these brick textures represent? They represent walls of brick (tenement) buildings.
Bearden rearranges pieces of magazine and newspaper images to create new messages. Locate a figure. What is this figure doing? Find people looking out windows, sitting on steps, and walking on the street. Most of the figures are composed of more than one cut-out. In the center a man holding a cigarette sits on steps. Another man,wearing a white hat low over his eyes, walks down the sidewalk. To the left of the black cat, a woman leans on her elbows and looks out a basement window.
Ask the students to consider how we perceive our environment. For example, when we’re sitting in a room or walking down the street, do we see everything at once in equal detail? We see the scene in fragments.
How is Bearden’s collage like the way we take in a scene in real life? We see a complicated or active scene piece by piece over time.
Bearden grew up in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and he loved jazz. How is his collage like jazz? Both encourage the artist to improvise and try new arrangements. The fragmented style is like the upbeat syncopation of jazz rhythms, which opens up a musical composition.
Describe the mood and energy of this scene. It is bustling, everything is close and crowded; people are walking and milling about, watching and being watched; and it seems that there would be lots of sound.
Bearden wanted to show African American life in America from an African American point of view. Explain how well you think he accomplishes that in this collage.
Look closely at all the parts of this collage.
Find these elements: Dove, Black cat, White cat
Describe the setting for this scene. It is a city street. Some students may know this is a Harlem neighborhood in New York City.
What architectural details would you see on a city street? Complicated but weathered wooden moldings surround the doors and windows; there are steps, and grids on some windows. The fire escape has a wrought iron railing.
Where did Bearden repeat textures in the shape of brick? He repeated these textures above the street, in the upper half of the composition.
What do these brick textures represent? They represent walls of brick (tenement) buildings.
Bearden rearranges pieces of magazine and newspaper images to create new messages. Locate a figure. What is this figure doing? Find people looking out windows, sitting on steps, and walking on the street. Most of the figures are composed of more than one cut-out. In the center a man holding a cigarette sits on steps. Another man,wearing a white hat low over his eyes, walks down the sidewalk. To the left of the black cat, a woman leans on her elbows and looks out a basement window.
Ask the students to consider how we perceive our environment. For example, when we’re sitting in a room or walking down the street, do we see everything at once in equal detail? We see the scene in fragments.
How is Bearden’s collage like the way we take in a scene in real life? We see a complicated or active scene piece by piece over time.
Bearden grew up in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and he loved jazz. How is his collage like jazz? Both encourage the artist to improvise and try new arrangements. The fragmented style is like the upbeat syncopation of jazz rhythms, which opens up a musical composition.
Describe the mood and energy of this scene. It is bustling, everything is close and crowded; people are walking and milling about, watching and being watched; and it seems that there would be lots of sound.
Bearden wanted to show African American life in America from an African American point of view. Explain how well you think he accomplishes that in this collage.
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