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WHEREAS, Romare Bearden was an American artist honored during his lifetime and posthumously with numerous prestigious awards, publications and exhibitions, including the National Medal of Arts honor and a groundbreaking retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Art; and,
WHEREAS, Mr. Bearden was a master collagist who incorporated into his work a rich montage of influences from American, African, Asian and European art and culture that played with his more personal inspiration from memories and experiences of the rural South, the urban North and the Caribbean; and,
WHEREAS, a highly prolific artist with multifaceted interests, his talents were numerous and extended beyond the canvas as he authored scholarly books, wrote songs, and was politically active as an arts activist and engaged humanist; and,
WHEREAS, Mr. Bearden is a graduate of Pittsburgh Public Schools, having spent his formative years with his maternal grandmother in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of East Liberty, his love of the city best exemplified in the mural he painted at the Gateway Center subway station, currently being restored and scheduled for reinstallation for sometime in 2012; and,
WHEREAS, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture will be holding an exhibition of Romare Bearden's work which will open on July 15th, and all Pittsburghers are encouraged to attend to witness the groundbreaking work from an artist of great distinction who once called Pittsburgh his home;
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare July 12, 2011 to be "Romare Bearden Day" in the City of Pittsburgh.