It takes a special kind of book to paint the full picture of Romaire Bearden"s artistic life. While quietly wrestling with what it meant to be a black American artist at mid-century, Bearden opened himself to a world of cultural influences. He found inspiration in Benin bronzes and paintings by Duccio; the Bible and Buddhism; The Odyssey and the blues; contemporary urban life and the rural lore of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The Art of Romaire Bearden offers a wise and thoughtful assessment of Bearden in the social context of his life and times. In the graceful lead essay, Ruth E. Fine traces Bearden"s career from its beginnings in the mid-1930s, when—as a newly-minted New York University grad—he toiled by day as a social worker and painted at night. Bearden"s best-known works are his Dada-influenced photomontages, begun in the mid-1960s, which created a visual equivalent for a disjunctive era of triumph and tragedy for African-Americans. His ou! tput also included stunning book illustrations and costume designs, political cartoons, incisive essays about the role of the black artist and even popular songs. More than 200 color illustrations display Bearden’s coloristic wizardry as a master of painted collage and lyrical landscape. The book accompanies an exhibition assembled by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (through Jan. 4, 2004) which travels to San Francisco, Dallas, New York and Atlanta. —Cathy Curtis