Romare Bearden: Three Folk Musicians 500 Piece Puzzle

Three Folk Musicians (Primary Title) Romare Bearden, American, 1911 - 1988 (Artist) 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle 20" x 20" Ages 13+ “Art, it must be remembered, is artifice, or a creative undertaking, the primary function of which is to add to our existing conception of reality.” —Romare Bearden Romare Bearden noted that the work pays homage to a scene he often witnessed at his grandmother’s boardinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “After supper the boarders would sit in front of the house and talk, or play checkers, or plunk out ‘down home music’ on their guitars.” With hand-painted papers and pieces of magazine photographs, the artist composed a group portrait of two guitarists and a banjoist, honoring the jazz and blues music that inspired African American artists—and modernists in general—beginning with the Harlem Renaissance half a century earlier. Although Bearden’s subject matter may appear straightforward, his complex compositions were informed by a variety of art historical traditions, from northern Renaissance painting to Cubist collage. More than a traditional genre painting, Three Folk Musicians joins other works in this gallery—such as those by Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann—in using found imagery from contemporary culture to invoke the modern lived experience, updating and expanding the idea of portraiture.