In Common: New Approaches With Romare Bearden

The exhibition In Common: New Approaches With Romare Bearden highlights Romare Bearden’s work as an artist, educator, scholar, songwriter, and social activist. Drawing from the Romare Bearden Foundation collection and other private collections, the exhibition presents a selection of works demonstrating Bearden’s keen exploration of race and racial stereotypes, often taking inspiration from history, literature, the Bible, jazz, and African American communities. His work is complemented by six leading and emerging contemporary artists—Black Quantum Futurism, Kahlil Robert Irving, Lorraine O’Grady, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, and Charisse Pearlina Weston—whose visions resonate with those of Bearden and contribute to a multigenerational dialogue on the political agency of art.

This exhibition is part of the multi-tier initiative “In Common: Romare Bearden and New Approaches to Art, Race & Economy,” which includes a symposium and forthcoming publication co-organized by The New School’s Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, the Romare Bearden Foundation, and The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.