The Art of Romare Bearden: the Prevalence of Ritual [Inscribed by Bearden]

Folio in white color-illus jacket and handsome dark blue brushed cloth; 230 pages: illustrations (some color); 35 cm. Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-230). Inscribed and dated 1980 by Bearden on half title. Bearden is internationally recognized as the dean of Black American artists. But his art reaches out far beyond the confines of its basic sources in the so-called Black experience, beyond the sociological implications that lie within his imagery. His visual idiom involves montage and collage elements in combination with forms and styles that echo those of African sculpture, and is orchestrated by a deft manipulation of mass and volume. Haunting, lovely, sometimes disturbing but always profoundly felt, his images communicate their power directly to the viewer. Their message is all the more immediate because of the artists great skill in fusing emotive imagery with unerring sophistication of technique. Beardens almost primitive paintings of the 1940s are stylized statements about Negro life, employing a simplicity of form and color that enhances their expressive power. This emotional force persists in his abstract works of the 1950s, reaching a peak in the highly charged, complex collages of the 1960s-compelling, immediate celebrations not only of Black anguish and survival but of the indomitable human spirit." --Publisher. African Americans in art -- Catalogs. Noirs dans l'art. African Americans in art. Schilderkunst. Collages. Photo available on request. Extra shipping charges may apply. Very good copy with faint foxing to prelims, fore-edges and a few margins; upper board edges faintly sunned; front board paste-down slightly loosed at gutter now neatly re-glued with archival glue. In a very good lightly edge-worn dust jacket protected by an archival mylar jacket.…