WPI Oral History: Myron Schwartzman on Romare Bearden

Myron Schwartzman, Professor Emeritus of English at Baruch College, is the author of the biography Romare Bearden: His Life and Art (1990). Having befriended Bearden in 1977, Schwartzman conducted extensive interviews with the artist over the course of several years, deepening their relationship and informing his narrative. Highlights of the interview include depictions of Schwartzman’s visits to Bearden’s family home on St. Maarten and to Bearden’s birthplace of Charlotte, North Carolina; memories of spending time with Bearden and friends in the Long Island City studio; and discussions of the personal, artistic, and historical roots of Bearden’s oeuvre.