Joseph Kleineman and Romare Bearden enjoyed a special relationship. Romy liked the fact that Joseph had studied in France and had a European approach to printmaking that did not require Romy to merely copy his work. Instead, he could improvise, be spontaneous, create a new interpretation of an idea or sketch. In this way, a new work could be born in the printmaking process.

Romy Bearden teaching Tai-Chi to Jonathan, Joseph's son, at the print atelier in SoHo, NYC, 1983.

Kleineman had learned his craft at some of the finest ateliers in France, under the training of legendary master craftsmen: Marcel Salinas, Picasso's printmaker, and Maitre Jacques Gourdon (at Ateliers Guillard, Gourdon in Cachan); Bernard Brussel-Smith, master artist printmaker and wood engraver (at La Bergerie, Collonges); and Lucien Detruit, master lithographer on stone (at L'Imprimerie Artistique Bellini, Paris); Peter Bramsen, master printer (at Clot/Bramsen et Georges Atelier, Paris).

June Kelly first introduced Romy to Joseph and his partner Maureen Turci in the late 1970's. Over the course of a half-decade (1979-1984) Bearden would arrive at the Kleineman studio in his signature blue jump suit after a full day's work at his own studio. Romy's loft on Canal St. was around the corner from Joseph's atelier -- the proximity made for a closeness that was very comfortable to Romy. Thus, the two were at ease working together, and each man's thorough craftsmanship and spontaneous, jazzlike creativity made for a good synthesis of master artist and master printmaker. Joseph enjoyed Romy's stories about the South -- about the pepper jelly lady, the trains, the days in Pittsburgh, watching the obeah in St. Martin. Occasionally, Romy would bring over longstanding friends -- the printmaker Robert Blackburn, the playwright Barrie Stavis, the photographer Sam Shaw, Bearden's gallery owner Arne Ekstrom, or fellow artist Jacob Lawrence. They could trade stories with Bearden, a warm, funny anecdotalist, by the hour.

Bearden might begin work with a sketch, or he might work spontaneously. Working directly on a specially custom-prepared aluminum plate, Bearden set down the master drawing, after which the plate was worked with a combination of tannic acid, liquid gum, and other materials to bring up the image -- some ingredients quite unorthodox. After this, it was placed on the press, and if Bearden approved the color, they went ahead and printed it. It was like a puzzle, put together piece by piece, really the lithographic equivalent of Bearden's collage techniques.

In 1984, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, Bearden created a commissioned lithograph, The Lamp, at Kleineman's atelier.

Working with Bearden opened Kleineman's eyes to a world of talented African-American artists, leading to his collaborations with such masters as Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith, Elizabeth Catlett, Ernest Crichlow, and James Denmark.

Bearden's The Piano Lesson, a 1983 collage, is the inspiration for his creation of Homage to Mary Lou [Williams], a 1984 lithograph also executed in Joseph Kleineman's atelier. Homage to Mary Lou is the printmaking masterwork of Bearden's later years. The print makes use of eighteen colors, and required at least eighteen drawings and eighteen separate plates. Some of the lace embroidery that Bearden had used in making the original collage was incorporated into the plate. There are elements of collage in the print itself: fabric, the music itself, the pattern of embroidery on the lamp.

This anecdote, written by Herb Jackson, is from the Hewitt Collection Catalogue. It recalls the wonder of first seeing the lithograph, The Piano Lesson: Homage to Mary Lou.

"I was in the apartment the night Homage to Mary Lou (1984) was delivered from the master printer. Bearden excitedly unwrapped the edition, which was to be sold as a benefit for his wife's dance company. When he revealed the lithograph, I could understand his passion. It is his finest print, exuding the warmth and touch of his collages."

It was a rich, special friendship that brought Romy and Joseph together. Their expertise and camaraderie made for a remarkable association, one that lasted until the end of Romy's life.

-- Myron Schwartzman, author, Romare Bearden: His Life and Art (Abrams, 1990)

Click here for a biography of Romare Bearden and available prints.