Romare Bearden: Figure in Collage traces the evolution of Bearden's approach to the human figure across four decades, from rarely seen 1946 Iliad drawings through the 1964 Projections to the 1977 Odysseus series. The earliest works reveal calligraphic linework that foreshadows the cutout forms of his later collages, while the Odysseus series links Homer's ancient quest to Black American life and the search for home — influenced by the luminous landscape of St. Martin, where Bearden built a home in 1973. Weaving together West African religion, Greek mythology, the Bible, and memories of Harlem and North Carolina, Bearden conceived of ritual as a fundamentally human practice connecting peoples across time and place.
