Romare Bearden - Early Works

Early Works

His early works suggest the importance of African American’s unity and cooperation. For instance, The Visitation implies the importance of collaboration of black communities by depicting intimacy between two black women who are holding hands together. However, not only because of the message conveyed, but also Bearden’s vernacular realism represented in the work makes The Visitation noteworthy; Bearden describes two figures in The Visitation somewhat realistically but does not fully follow the pure realism by distorting and exaggerating some parts of their body, to “convey an experiential feeling or subjective disposition.” Bearden’s quotation also demonstrates his supportive view to vernacular realism: “the Negro artists must not be content with merely recording a scene as a machine. He must enter wholeheartedly into the situation he wishes to convey.”