Curator’s Corner: Throwback (Romare Bearden)
A fun and engaging exhibition about a significant historical topic, Romare Bearden's "Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story" came to our museum thanks to our friends at the Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charlotte, the Romare Bearden Foundation, and 4 Forty Four in Blowing Rock. We were thrilled to be able to host this exhibition for a few months in 2017. It featured original works by Romare Bearden from his book, "Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy," and labels guided you through the book page by page as you walked throughout the gallery.
Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was born in nearby Charlotte, NC. An American artist who worked with many different types of media and subjects (including painting, cartoons, and collages), his artistic breakthrough at age 51 brought fame and prosperity. He acknowledged diverse influences from old masters to modernists alike. He is recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the twentieth century. "Li'l Dan" was the only children's book ever written and illustrated by the artist. Thankfully, the illustrations were discovered by Bearden's friend, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., who preserved them alongside the Romare Bearden Foundation to create this publication.
The description of Bearden's book states, "Li’l Dan, a slave on a Southern plantation, loves to play his drum. When a company of Union soldiers announce that the slaves have been set free, Dan has no place to go, so he follows the soldiers, who make him their mascot. But Confederate soldiers attack, and Dan discovers that he is the only one who can save his friends."
Bearden's works can be found in museum collections all across the country, but you can also learn more about him by visiting www.beardenfoundation.org.
Image Credits: Installation views of "Romare Bearden. Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story" at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, Blowing Rock, NC. Photographs by Ashley Warren.