ROMARE BEARDEN (1911-1988)

I do not burden myself with the need for complete abstraction or absolute formal purity but I do want my language to be strict and classical, in the manner of the great Benin heads, for example. In that sense, I feel my work is in the tradition of most of all the great exponents of flat painting. I have drawn on these styles, which I feel are timeless and historic- ally durable, to control my images in pictorial space.
– Romare Bearden