Artwork: Bearden’s “A Black Odyssey” and “Mauritius”
Artwork by Romare Bearden
In 1977, Romare Bearden (1911–1988), one of the most powerful and original artists of the 20th century, created a cycle of 20 collages and watercolors (miniature variations of his collages) based on Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. Rich in symbolism and allegorical content, Bearden’s “Odysseus Series” created an artistic bridge between classical mythology and African-American culture. The works conveyed a sense of timelessness and the universality of the human condition.
Bearden’s 1969 sculpture Mauritius represents St Maurice, a 3rd century CE Roman military leader and Christian martyr who has been depicted as a Black man since at least the 12th century. Considering the era of its making—the decade of the Vietnam War and resistance to it in many national capitals, anti-government protests across the globe, and both nonviolent and armed uprisings against institutional discrimination and social inequity—Mauritius provokes questions about human conflicts, their histories, and their costs. Yet the assemblage offers no answers.
View more information on A Black Odyssey from the Wallach Art Gallery
View more information on Mauritius from the Panorama Journal
