THE NEXT BIG THING

Romare Bearden

"Romare Bearden was an African-American artist and author of a history of his people's art. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from NYU in 1935. "

Wikipedia

Born: September 2, 1911, Charlotte, NC

Died: March 12, 1988, New York, NY

On view: The Museum of Modern Art

Periods: Abstract expressionism, Cubism, Neo-expressionism, Social realism, Modern art, Harlem Renaissance

Known for: Painting

Ok, So What's The Story?

Queen Charlotte

When I first arrived to Charlotte I heard whispers and faint ones at that, about the origins of the city's name "Charlotte". Folks would say that Charlotte was a person of color or biracial.

 But the official commentary is " Queen Charlotte, for whom our city is named, was the wife of George III, King of England. Born in Mecklenburg-strelitz, Germany, she traveled to London to marry George when she was 17, never returning to Germany. In addition to raising her 15 children, she became a patron of art, music, and botany. Kew Gardens outside London is her legacy. She also introduced Chrasi trees to England, which her granddaughter, Queen Victoria, made so popular. Charlotte died in 1818 at the age of 74." There's no mention of her race or ethnicity!

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However, If you google Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, "you'll quickly come across a historian called Mario de Valdes y Cocom. He argues that her features, as seen in royal portraits, were conspicuously African, and contends that they were noted by numerous contemporaries. He claims that the queen, though German, was directly descended from a black branch of the Portuguese royal family, related to Margarita de Castro e Souza, a 15th-century Portuguese noblewoman nine generations removed, whose ancestry she traces from the 13th-century ruler Alfonso III and his lover Madragana, whom Valdes takes to have been a Moor and thus a black African".

Art A Thought, A Feeling, A Vision, A Word, A Compass 

CLT Museums

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• Harvey B Gantt Center 

• Discovery Place   

• McColl Center for Art

• Bechtler Museum of Modern

• Art  Blumenthal Arts Center 

• IMAX Theater and Discovery Place  

• Elder Gallery

• Mint Museum of Art   

• Charlotte Museum of History

• Carolinas Aviation Museum

• Sozo Gallery

• Levine Museum Of The New South

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YOUR ART PASSION