Summary

“Tribute to Romare Bearden” praises Romare Bearden’s artistic talent while simultaneously lamenting the tendency amongst art critics – and literary critics, too – to pigeon-hole artists into one role or perspective. Morrison despises the “eternally irrelevant argument about how and whether the art of a black artist could be, should be considered ‘universal,’ meaning ‘mainstream,’ ‘race transcendent,’ ‘agenda-free,’ and so on” (290). She says those seeking universalism in black art imply that if art was political – and race-specific – then it could not also be art. Instead, Morrison says that Romare Bearden’s work focused on the humanity of his subjects – who were mostly black – and thus took for granted this humanity which others would strip from them. Through a lack of condescension, his work is aesthetically beautiful and meaningful, but can also be viewed as political if one considers that...