Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
Auction: May 8, 2019 1:00:00 PM EDT
Signed bottom left, collage on board.
12 1/4 x 8 3/8 in. (31.1 x 21.3cm)
Provenance: The Artist.
Private Collection, Long Pond, Pennsylvania (acquired directly from the above).
“Art will go where the energy is. I expect a convincing outpouring of creative energy from lands touched by the Caribbean Sea.”
St. Martin was a major source of artistic inspiration and rejuvenation for Romare Bearden, who sought refuge on the island beginning in the early 1960s when the stresses of New York City began to take their toll. Bearden often spoke of St. Martin as a “mystical place where the mythology that makes life bearable could still be found.” The artist began incorporating island imagery into his work around this time, often depicting nudes within a vibrant forest setting. These images remained an enduring inspiration through the latter half of his career, and are consistent themes of his collages and paintings until his death in 1988.
1. The Arist as quoted in: Sally Price and Richard Price, Romare Bearden, Philadelphia, University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2006, p. 50
2. Ibid, p 49.