Golgotha by Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden depicts the Crucifixion of Christ with Golgotha. He painted it in 1945 with watercolors on charcoal paper. The exaggeration of physical features that Bearden used within this painting expresses the agony of the crucifixion. For example, his head is much larger then his small feet. By doing this it allows the viewers to experience the pain of Christ being crucified.

This painting exemplifies the gesture technique. Gesture paintings look as if the painter was just scribbling, but in a personal way, "representing a definite element in the painting." Like the way the lines are simple, but they express the feeling of agony. (http://books.google.com/books?id=sPsV_La-QIQC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=explanation+golgotha+by+romare+bearden&source=bl&ots=uXDrAMoLfX&sig=UFnK6OpsStsoqp7gosihRaUyFZU&hl=en&ei=5NpzTavtBYnWtQOu-M3MCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false)

I don't see any Harlem Renaissance themes within this painting. The people standing around Christ with arrows in their hand look angry, but I don't think it's at racism. I don't know if they're mad at the situation, or if they were a part of it, but their facial and body expressions, and the fact that they are holding spears make me believe they're angry at something.

I like the abstractedness of this painting, and how the lines are so simple, but yet they express a deep feeling. I also like the colors Beardem used and how they overlap each other.I picked this painting to blog about because it was one of the only abstract pieces I saw when I looked up Harlem Renaissance art, and it made me feel a sense of sadness and anger when I first glanced at it.