In the Garden, from the porfolio Prevalence of Ritual

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, lower right, in graphite: Romare Bearden / 74; inscribed, in graphite, lower left: P.R.I. 17/100

Label

In the Garden belongs to a portfolio of screenprints that reflect Romare Bearden’s artistic mission to render the African American experience in a way that all people can in some way understand and identify with. Bearden often integrates biblical storytelling and narrative folklore into his works. Here he features a "conjur" woman, a healing figure and supernatural being who tends to plants in the Garden of Eden. Surrounded by plants that may have healing qualities, she feeds two birds nested atop a large shrub, accentuating her nurturing character. Bearden’s bright colors contrast with the woman’s dark complexion. He challenges us ton think about skin tone in relation to blackness, choosing to depict the figure in both black and gray tones. In this and other works, Bearden reconfigures conventional perceptions of divinity and healing and expands our conceptions of African American life.

From the 2019 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, curated by Victoria McCraven '19, Homma Family Intern

In the Garden mimics the collage style for which Romare Bearden is famous, merging the images of Eve in the garden of Eden and the “conjur woman.” Bringing these two figures together, Bearden marries the concept of the fallible human with a respected healer equipped with extensive herbal knowledge and spiritual insight. In this garden, the woman is not punished but instead possesses agency over her own sustenance.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

SART 31/SART 72, Painting II/III, Jennifer Caine, Winter 2020

AAAS 88.19, Contemporary African-American Artists, Michael Chaney, Summer 2021

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, Victoria McCraven, Class of 2019, Homma Family Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 9, 2019-January 4, 2020.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–April 11, 2022.

Publication History

Victoria McCraven, A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2020.

Provenance

Cordier and Ekstrom, Inc., New York, New York; sold to present collection, 1975.

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