Norman Lewis and Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden’s work in painting and collage helped shape the art of postwar America, influencing generations of painters from his early contributions to the Harlem Renaissance to late-twentieth century paintings and illustrations. His early work in a social realist manner gave way over the years to a refined collage technique that drew from mosaic tradition, all the while creating a body of work which represented the true and inclusive human experience.

 

His frequent collaborator and co-founder of the Spiral movement, Norman Lewis, is perhaps best known for his political subject matter and mature, abstract style. He consistently drew inspiration from natural forms, and following early experimentations in social realism, later turned to abstraction as a method to gain artistic freedom and personal discovery, connecting his approaches to abstraction using representational strategies to the crises of African-American urban life and his community's struggles just after midcentury.