Le Jazz c. 1967

Romare Bearden created this drawing, called ‘Le Jazz’, with graphite on paper. The marks are pretty simple, and the grey tones are minimal, but the figures that appear are full of character. It feels like a process of building and refining, searching for the right form. Look at the face of the drummer, he's so wonderfully wonky. Bearden’s use of line and tone creates a sense of rhythm that’s totally in sync with the subject. The texture of the graphite on paper adds a tactile quality to the drawing, like you can almost feel the music coming off the page. Bearden, like Stuart Davis, used the musical form of Jazz as inspiration for his art. The syncopation and improvisation of Jazz can also be seen in the collage work he is best known for. I like to think of artmaking, like music, as a conversation, not a lecture.