Archetypes, Aesthetics, and Culture in the Life and Art of Romare Bearden (1911–1988)

ABSTRACT This paper builds on the theoretical foundations of analytical psychology and the universal nature of archetypes in its examination of the life and art of Romare Bearden (1911–1988). No artist of his generation better exemplifies the psychological depth and connection to the richness of African American and African Diaspora culture, psychology, historiography, and art than Bearden. Through an examination of themes, symbols, and iconography in the artwork of this master collagist, painter, and printmaker, the author identifies personal and archetypal themes, examining them in the framework of the universal and the collective. The discussion foregrounds the breadth and depth of Bearden’s grounding in African American and African Diaspora aesthetics, culture, and art on both personal and collective levels; the unbounded active imagination that he brought to his art; the broad range of his scholarly, intellectual, cultural, and artistic interests; and the depth of the pursuit of political consciousness and its complement in his social activism. Bearden’s heroic journey is embedded in the narrative relational historiographies of America and the African Diaspora. His journey, viewed through the prism of the artist, griot, and social activist, is contextualized in the archetype of the life cycle common to all human beings.