Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Jazz 1930s - The Savoy
Jazz 1930s - The Savoy

Jazz 1930s - The Savoy

Artist Romare Bearden (American, 1911 - 1988)
Date1964
MediumCollage on paperboard
DimensionsImage: 10 1/8 x 14 1/4 inches (25.72 x 36.2 cm)
Framed: 19 5/8 x 23 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches (49.85 x 58.74 x 2.86 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund; exchange of gifts of the Mid-America Artists Association and William T. Kemper to the Mid-America Annual Collection; purchase awards from the Sixth--Tenth and Fourteenth Mid-America Annual Exhibitions, Sales and Rental Gallery, and Ford Foundation for the Mid-America Annual Collection; gifts of Richard Shields, Mrs. Jesse Raymond Battenfeld through the Battenfeld Foundation in memory of Jesse Battenfeld, Helen Mag Wolcott, Mrs. A. W. Erickson, Arthur Wiesenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Berkowitz, Katherine Harvey, Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Geyer, anonymous donors, Sadie A. May, Mila Mitchell, Walter A. Weiss, Mrs. Clyde Porter through the Friends of Art, Trustees of the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design through the Friends of Art, and Leavenworth Penitentiary Artists; and Nelson Gallery Foundation properties
Object number2009.61
InscribedJazz 1930s - The Savoy Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was a famous place for the great jazz bands in the 1920s & 1930s. To Mr. Werner Laubre Romare Bearden Nov. 1967
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionA dynamic depiction of nine jazz musicians playing a variety of instruments: drums, saxophone, clarinet, guitar, trombone and piano. In the lower right of the composition, a smiling piano player peeks out from behind the guitarist. His relatively large fingers play a tiny keyboard, and just above is a detail of eighth notes on sheet music. The color palette, a variety of grays, black and white, reflects the sources for the collage: black-and-white magazine photos.Gallery Label
Jazz 1930s -The Savoy is a dynamic depiction of nine jazz musicians playing a variety of instruments--drums, saxophone, clarinet, guitar,
trombone and piano. In the lower right of the composition, a smiling piano player peeks out from behind the guitarist. His relatively large fingers play a tiny keyboard, and just above is a detail of eighth notes on sheet music.

Bearden is renowned for his collages, and his method for creating them, like jazz, was improvisational. The fragmented and angular components that form the composition of Jazz 1930s -The Savoy are made of magazine clippings glued to a paper board surface. The shapes, which dramatically shift in scale, are juxtaposed light-against-dark and fill the composition to impart a vibrant energy. These patterns have been compared to the syncopated rhythms of various jazz styles.
Provenance

Given by the artist to Werner Laubre, Switzerland, November 1967 [1];

Private collection;

With DC Moore Gallery, New York, by May 2009;

Purchased from the DC Moore Gallery by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2009.

NOTES:

[1] An inscription on the collage’s verso reads: “Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was a famous place for the great jazz bands in the 1920s & 1930s. To Mr. Werner Laubre Romare Bearden Nov. 1967.”

Copyright© Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.