Hans Namuth photographed Romare Bearden in 1980 in his Long Island City, New York, studio. Behind him hangs a picture of his grandparents on their front porch in North Carolina, one of the few decorations in the space. A specialist in collage, Bearden often looked to the past for inspiration. He once said, "I paint out of the tradition of the blues, of call and recall. You start a theme and you call and recall." This nod to the culture of the black South, where he spent his early childhood, was just a beginning for Bearden, who spent time studying such artists as Rembrandt and Henri Matisse as well as absorbing the influences of the Harlem Renaissance.

Hans Namuth (1915–1990)
Cibachrome print, 1980
Published December 1980
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the James Smithson Society
©Hans Namuth Ltd.