The first publication to focus on a rarely seen series of jazz-infused collages that explore the African American experience and the artist’s lifelong relationship to jazz music, by one of the most important and influential visual artists of the twentieth century.

Bearden (1911–1988) was a prominent African American artist often described as the consummate jazz painter, known for his innovative collages that explored themes of Black American culture, history, and personal experiences. This publication reexamines Bearden’s life and work in the context of jazz, tracing the musician’s impact from the artists’ earliest oil paintings to his iconic collages.

In 1981, Bearden created nineteen collages that the artist called his “Paris Blues,” or simply “Jazz,” series. Conceived as pages for an oversized book that would be a response to the Hollywood movie

Autorentext
**Robert G. O'Meally is Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English at Columbia University and founding director of Columbia's Center for Jazz Studies. Mickalene Thomas is a New York–based artist known for her mixed-media paintings, particularly portraits of Black women, often incorporating rhinestones, glitter, and other nontraditional materials, which challenge conventional notions of beauty and identity.