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Sculptor, Richard Hunt, created “Spiral Odyssey” to honor his friend and fellow creative. Bearden and Hunt were the first African American artists to have solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art in 1971.Inspiration for the sculpture came from Bearden and his work. “Odyssey” in the title refers to Bearden’s series of works that were inspired by the Homer’s epic poem. Also, in a personal way, “Odessey” is a reference to Bearden’s personal journey alone and with others, his fellow artists and his fans and followers.The word “Spiral” from the title of the piece has many meanings. One was Bearden’s role as a champion of his fellow African American artists. In 1963, Bearden role in gathering African American artists together in New York to collaborate on ideas about arts activism in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, share ideas on the challenges of career development and the art of politics during the turbulent period. Finally, there is the association in the sculpture of the widening and elevating spiral of Bearden’s broad career which even today its legacy continues to rise.

ROMARE BEARDEB AS REMEMBERED BY JERALD MELBERG, GALLERY OWNER AND LONGTIME FRIEND AND ASSOCIATE OF BEARDEN

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“Spiral Odyssey” is sculptor Richard Hunt’s homage to Charlotte native, Romare Bearden. The sculpture was installed in May, 2017 in the southeast corner of Romare Bearden Park, a calm, public greenspace open to the public in the heart of Charlotte’s bustling Uptown commercial district.  The sculpture is made of stainless steel, is 30 feet tall and weighs approximately 8,000 pounds.  The piece is a primary focal point in the part and the art is a subtle but  permanent reminder that the park is dedicated to an artist. Charlotte takes great pride that Romare Bearden was born in the city.  As Bearden's legacy continues to grow, so are the many opportunities for Charlotte to expand upon its cultural life as a community by this important association.

SPIRAL ODYSSEY - A TRIBUTE TO ROMARE BEARDEN

Starting from the place of his birth, this tour through Uptown Charlotte traces Romare Bearden's life and career spanning from 1911 until 1988 and chronicles the many achievements of this multitalented individual  . 

Romare Bearden was born on 401 S. Graham Street in Charlotte NC to Richard Howard and Bessye Bearden, a middle-class African American couple. Both of his grandparents were property owners and both his parents were college graduates. Due largely to the repressive culture in the South where Jim Crow laws were in full force, the young family relocated to Harlem in 1914. During his youth, Bearden made frequent trips back to Charlotte to visit his grandparents. The contrasting lifestyle of the traditional, rural family setting of Charlotte with the fast-paced urban NYC was a point of fascination for Bearden. He valued both and found inspiration from the two “places” and both are prevalent subject themes in many of his works.In addition to place, family is a frequent theme in Bearden’s art. A Charlotte collector who owns “Mother and Child” remarks, “You can almost see the protection, you can see the closeness being exhibited on that canvas.” In the South that Bearden encountered on visits to his grandparents,” he got a chance to see some things that probably a lot of us did not see. We’re getting his ideas and experiences: I can identify with that.”When Bearden visited Charlotte in his later years and witnessed that his childhood neighborhood had been demolished, he was saddened. Appropriately, the public park in Charlotte’s Third Ward is named for Bearden.

401 S Graham Street is where the home of the paternal grandparents of Romare Bearden once stood and where the artist was born in 1911.  The neighborhood, called the Third Ward, was one of four wards or sections that radiated from the city’s epicenter at the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets when Charlotte was first developed.  The Third Ward is adjacent to the Second Ward which was where the historic Brooklyn neighborhood, a once bustling center of the Black community, was located.  Historic Brooklyn and most of the homes and businesses in the Third Ward including the Bearden homeplace were razed in the 1960’s to make way for Charlotte’s urban development.  When Bearden was a boy, he visited his grandparents at their Charlotte home during the summers and those experiences made a significant impression on the artist and influenced his art.

ROMARE BEARDEN BIRTH PLACE - 401 S. GRAHAM STREET

Romare Bearden was truly a Renaissance man. A brilliant artist, his alma mater, Boston University featured him in their alumni magazine, “Colossal Remnants - America’s Greatest Collagist” was also a star athlete and pitched for the varsity baseball team. The BU article recounts how Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane brought players from the majors, the Philadelphia Athletics, for an exhibition game against the BU varsity baseball team. Bearden pitched a one hit game. Afterward, Mack offered Bearden a pro contract which included a major league signing bonus. However, to accept the offer, Bearden who was a light skinned Black man would have had to pass himself off as white. At the time, the leagues were strictly segregated. Deeply offended, Bearden had no interest in presenting himself as white and declined the offer. Of note, had Bearden accepted the offer, he would have been the first player to integrate major league baseball, superseding Jackie Robinson by 15 years.Instead of being known as an athlete, Bearden is internationally acclaimed for his art. Bearden is primarily known as a collagist. He was a himself a pioneer African American artist and was a champion for other African American artists at a time when artists of color where largely unrecognized.Bearden was a first African American artist to have a solo at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He is widely recognized a primary painter of the the Twentieth century.

Truist Field is a baseball stadium located in Uptown Charlotte.  Built in 2012, the complex is the home of the minor league team, the Charlotte Knights.  Truist Stadium is Charlotte’s third sports complex for professional sports, accompanying Bank of America Stadium for football and the Spectrum Center for basketball. Unknown to many, the artist Romare Bearden was a highly-skilled baseball star and even had a chance to play in the major leagues.

TRUIST FIELD - ROMARE BEARDEN, A RENAISSANCE MAN

Bearden is widely regarded as one of America’s most important artists of the Twentieth Century. Known primarily for his work in collage, Bearden was a pioneer in the medium of collage, literally assembling random pieces to create beauty, harmony, and meaning. Collage also serves as an apt description for Bearden, both the artist and individual as his primary contribution was as a social activist, breaking down the race barrier for African American artists both for himself and for other underrepresented artists.In his early work life, Bearden supported himself and his wife by working as a social worker. However, by the end of the 1960s, Bearden was well-established as an artist to be able to leave his work at the Department of Social Services and focus full-time on his art. To provide context on the experience of African American artists such as Bearden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1969 exhibit Harlem on My Mind: The Cultural Capital of Black America 1900-1968 failed to feature any works by African American artists in the show. Over half a century later, that exhibit remains a reference point when art and cultural organizations fail to include Black voices within exhibits, panels, and events. In the 1970s Bearden was represented by the prominent New York gallery, Cordier and Eckstom. He had solo shows at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, and the Museum of Modern Art. He received many awards, including the Freedom Fighter Award from the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP and the Frederick Douglass Award from the NY chapter of the National Urban League. President Reagan award Bearden the National Medal of Arts in 1987. Bearden died in 1988 but his work continues to inspire.

This 5.4-acre public park was dedicated in honor of Charlotte native and internationally acclaimed artist, Romare Bearden. Dedicated in 2013, Romare Bearden Park is located just a block from where the artist was born. The park is designed in a collage motif to honor the artist's best-known style and features two formal gardens, a courtyard, a playing field, and several waterfalls. The park is utilized by a broad spectrum of the Charlotte community for varying purposes including fitness and cultural arts programs.

Romare Bearden Park. 

The Mint Museum Uptown is one of two branches which makes up the Mint Museum of Charlotte, North Carolina. The original sole location of the Mint Museum, now known as the Mint Museum Randolph, was founded in 1936 as the first art museum in North Carolina. After many years of flourishing success, the Mint Museum was expanded and the Mint Museum Uptown was founded in October of 2010. As a member of the Levine Center for the Arts, the Uptown museum plays a central role in Charlotte's art and culture scene. The museum has a sleek, modern exterior which was designed by the Machado Silvetti Design firm of Boston. It boasts a number of compelling collections, including a Craft + Design collection, an American art collection, a European art collection, and a Modern and Contemporary art collection. The Craft + Design collection displays the Mint Museum's collection of international contemporary decorative arts, which includes a variety of pieces made of glass, art, and jewelry, among other materials. Some of the most famous of these include Pipe Dream by John Cederquist and Royal Blue Mint Chandelier by Dale Chihuly. Its American art collection includes unique works from a variety of genres and time periods, containing pieces which range in time period from the Colonial Era to the Second World War. Some of the most famous of these pieces are My Friend Brien by Robert Henri, Portrait of Isaac Gouverneur by Gilbert Stuart, and Indian Summer in the White Mountains by Sanford Robinson Gifford. The Mint Museum Uptown's Modern and Contemporary art collection also contain a number of acclaimed works, including Self Portrait as Wunderkabinett by Julie Hefferman, Ring of Iron, Ring of Wood by Kay Sage, and The Birth of Venus, After Botticelli by Vik Muniz. The museum also has a number of special collections. Aside from its impressive collections, the Mint Museum Uptown also has a number of additional resources and galleries. These include the museum's Lewis Family Gallery, which invites children of all ages to play and explore, providing a number of hands-on art and puzzle activities for them to participate in. The museum also provides ART packs which allow children and the adults who accompany them to explore the artwork together. Four resource centers are stationed throughout the museum to provide information about special exhibitions and permanent collections residing in the museum. Two special event spaces, the James B. Duke Auditorium and the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium, are also housed in the Mint Museum Uptown. The Mint Museum's other location, the Mint Museum Randolph, also houses a number of interesting collections and amenities. The Mint Museum's Art of the Ancient Americas collection, European art collection, historical fashion collection, Native American art collection, and libraries and archives are located at the Mint Museum Randolph. In 1980, the Mint Museum, in its Randolph Road location, exhibited a retrospective of the hometown artist who had achieved international prominence. The show, ROMARE BEARDEN: 1970-1980, was the museum’s most ambitious undertaking up to that time. Curated by Jerald Melburg who would go on to open a gallery and represent Bearden in the South, the show was a big hit important both for the artist and the museum.Marking the 100th anniversary of Bearden’s birth, The Mint Uptown hosted the second major exhibit of the artist’ work. ROMARE BEARDEN: SOUTHERN RECOLLECTIONS was again curated by Melberg but this time was twice the size, including 100 works in the exhibit. The show covers five decades of the artist’s career, featuring collage paintings and watercolors. Charlotte takes great pride in Bearden and his art. The centennial exhibit sparked a community wide celebration. Bearden is an integral part of Charlotte culture. When the exhibit closed, some of the work on display was gathered for permanent display in The Mint’s Romare Bearden Collection which is on view to the public on the museum’s fourth floor.

Charlotte’s Mint Museum Uptown makes up the second part of the city’s Mint Museum, and plays a vital role in Charlotte's Levine Center for the Arts. The Mint Museum Uptown was established in 2010, and is one of two branches which make up Charlotte's Mint Museum, the first art museum in the state of North Carolina, founded in 1936. The Mint Uptown’s exterior is strikingly beautiful, its five-story, 145,000-square-foot facility having been designed by the illustrious Machado Silvetti design firm of Boston. The museum houses a number of cutting-edge exhibits, an internationally renowned Craft + Design collection, and exceptional collections of American, European, and contemporary art, among other things. While it is one of two branches which make up the Mint Museum, the Mint Uptown houses different collections and exhibitions than the Mint Museum Randolph. 
Anchoring Charlotte’s main cultural district, The Mint Museum Uptown opened its doors in 2010 and is home to its internationally  acclaimed Craft + Design collection as well as important collections of American, contemporary and European art.   A popular attraction at The Mint is the Romare Bearden Gallery which is located on the fourth flour and showcases work by the artist and offers an excellent retrospective of Bearden’s work. 

The Mint Museum Uptown

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art opened in 2010, and quickly became a fixture in the Charlotte museum scene. The building which houses the museum itself is significant, as it was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, whose other major contributions to the United States art scene includes designing the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The building itself is an artistic and purposeful contribution. The museum is known for it’s soaring glass atrium which stretches across the museum, infusing natural light throughout the four floors. Other features include a terra cotta exterior, which encloses the building, and vaulted skylight system. The interior design of the building was precisely selected to infuse a natural and organic sense of elegance. Steel, glass, terra cotta, Black granite, polished concrete and wood composed the primary palette of construction materials. Botta himself designed this array, as well as many of the internal fixtures for the space, including the reception desk, the gallery benches, the cafe bar, and globe hanging lights.The museum is named for the Bechtler family, including Andreas Bechtler, a native Swiss but North Carolina resident who collected nearly 1,500 pieces of artwork completed by major 20th-century modernism figures. The Bechtler’s amassed this collection through a combination of inheritance and personal gathering, passed down through parents, siblings, and extended family. Exhibited in the collection are works from famous 20th-century artists, with an emphasis on the School of Paris post World War II. Artists displayed include Andy Warhol, Barbara Hepworth, Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst, Jean Tinguely, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso. One of the more well-known pieces is the 17.5-foot sculpture, The Firebird. Designed by French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, the creature was created from 7,500 mirror mosaics over polyester on steel armature. In 2006 Bechtler purchased the piece and in 2009 it was installed in the museum plaza. The significance of The Bechtler Museum in telling the story of Romare Bearden is not that his works are part of the Bechter’s collection. Because The Bechtler features European artists, Bearden is not a fit for their specialty, rather, the connection is something else. Romare Bearden grew up in Harlem and was heavily influenced by the culture-soaked setting of his youth, including the jazz music. The Becthler is known for its jazz music series, something that would be familiar for Bearden. So much so that jazz music is a prominent theme in many of Bearden’s work.Bearden’s homelife in Harlem was quite exceptional. Bearden’s father was a sanitation inspector for the New York Health Department and an accomplished piano player. Love of music and art informed Bearden’s childhood and teenage years.Bessye Bearden, the artist’s mother, was a well-known and highly-respected social activist and progressive. As the New York correspondent for the Chicago Defendant, one of the most influential African American publications in the country, Bessye Bearden had excellent access to many of the most influential African American figures of her time.Through his parents, Bearden received exposure to the vibrant culture and social happenings occurring in Harlem. The artist’s world included Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art houses a unique and rare collection of 20th-century modern pieces of artwork. Amassed by a North Carolina resident family and donated to the museum, the permanent and rotating exhibits demonstrate significant contributions to art from this time period.The museum building itself is unique, created by a well known Swiss architect, and designed specifically to showcase the pieces of work. The Betchtler Museum is visited by thousands of art enthusiasts each year who are welcome to view the collection and rotating exhibits. 

Distinguishing itself from Charlotte's other Uptown museums, The Bechtler is Charlotte’s boutique cultural space.  The distinct red terracotta tiled building was designed by internationally acclaimed architect Mario Botta and opened in 2010.  This jewel of a museum houses the personal collection of the Swiss industrialist family, The Bechtlers.  Found in the museum are works by the most important and influential artists of the mid-20th century including Miro, Giacometti, Picasso, Calder and Warhol.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture (formerly the Afro-American Cultural Center) was born as a result from sit-ins held by students demanding a forum to acknowledge the history and contributions of African- Americans to this country. The museum’s theme is “where you belong”, which captures the original vision of the founders. From beginnings in 1974, the founder’s vision has been superseded. In 2009 the Gantt center opened in the heart of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.The museum is named in honor of Harvey Bernard Gantt; a respected community member and businessman. Gantt was also the first African American student admitted to Clemson University, and served as Charlotte’s first African-American mayor. The Gantt center presents and preserves African-American excellence in art, history and culture. The Gantt center celebrates the trials and triumphs of African Americans and their contributions to arts and culture.The Gantt center features the John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African- American Art. The collection consists of fifty-eight famous works renowned by the greatest American artists. Featured artist include; Romare Bearden, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Elizabeth Catlett, Jonathan Green, Jacob Lawrence, Ann Tanksley, Hale Woodruff, and many more. The Gantt center also features traveling exhibits such as; America I am, Questions Bridge: Black Males and many othersWork by Romare Bearden is featured in The Gantt's permanent collection. Beardon, a native of Charlotte, was a pioneer African American artist, breaking down many barriers for himself and for other African American artists. In his work, Bearden often featured his own experience which he recognized as “the incidents of Black life” and used memories of his childhood visits to his grandparents in rural NC as inspiration in many of his works.A champion of civil rights and promoter of his fellow artists, Bearden founded several cooperatives and galleries for African American artists. The Spiral Group was one. It included both African American artists and creatives, and the group was most active during the turbulent period of social unrest in the early 1960’s.

The Harvey B. Gantt Center offers exhibits and educational programs that explore the experiences and celebrates the triumphs of people of African descent in the United States. October 2009 marked the opening of the Afro-American Cultural Center as the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture. The name of the facility honors Harvey Bernard Gantt, a community leader and businessman. Gant was a trailblazer, the first African-American student admitted to Clemson University and Charlotte's first African-American mayor. 
The Center is a dedicated space to present, preserve and celebrate excellence in the art, history and culture of African American and people of African descent.  Included in the permanent collection are several works by Romare Bearden.

While there has never been an exhibit dedicated to Bearden exclusively, The Gantt Center has several Bearden works on display in its permanent collection.  One painting by Bearden is featured prominently in the lobby of The Gantt Center.  It sets the tone for the whole museum.

The Harvey B. Gantt Center

The City of Charlotte proudly claims Bearden as its own although the Charlotte-born artist lived most of his life in New York City. At the time of his death in 1988, Bearden was recognized as one of the most important artists of the Twentieth century. He was particularly known for collage, an artist process named from the French “to paste up.” Bearden’s reputation in collage is so strong that his name is almost synonymous for term, collage. Typical of many artists, Bearden did not make a living as an artist until late in his career. Then, his success came almost “overnight.” The trajectory of the breakout of his career was roughly eight years from his official discovery to the famous MoMA show, the first for an African American artist. Although he received recognition, Bearden’s work was undervalued. In 1980, at the time of the first Mint show in Charlotte, his paintings sold for less than $3000, By the time of the second Mint show in 2011, the price for his art was $100,000 and higher. Today, Bearden’s art has appreciated even more. Luckily, there are works by Bearden, like at the Main Library, that are available for easy viewing by the public.

The Main branch of Charlotte’s Public Library is in the heart of the city center.  The 157,000 sq. ft. building anchors Charlotte’s Arts & Education district and provides many services including materials, programs and meeting rooms to Charlotte residents. Located on the back wall of the first floor of the library is a large mosaic work by Romare Bearden, Before Dawn.
Before Dawn came about when Bearden was commissioned by CharlotteMecklenburg Art in Public Places and The Charlotte Observer and planned to complete an original work for the city’s new Main Library in 1988.  However. Bearden died of a stroke before completing the work.  The Library has use of Before Dawn, a large format piece that depicts images from Bearden’s childhood visits to his grandparents’ home in Charlotte as a mosaic reproduction. The mosaic is made from glass tiles forged by the Corvatto Maosaic Company in Ital


From Charlotte to International Success, the Life of Romare Bearden 1911 to 1988

SPIRAL ODYSSEY - A TRIBUTE TO ROMARE BEARDEN

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information