Romare Bearden African Art Collection – Gift To CMAAEEC Museum

Romare Bearden, renowned artist and Dr. Jack Fein, art aficionado, were great friends who shared a love for African art.

They shared a unique vision to further its historical appeal and personal appreciation by offering a curated collection to those who perhaps had never had the opportunity to view in situ or even hold in their hands the breathtakingly beautiful original works of art.

Museum frequenting and gallery hopping fed their passion which led to purchases amassing African sculptures over several years. The intention was that the collection would one day be gifted into the guiding hands of a well-positioned not-for-profit curator.

Offering, through a grand act of philanthropy, an intimate experience with an artform that lay at the origins of a culture, that to some, lay at the roots of their ancestry and heritage.

To be able to view and hold in one’s own hands museum quality bronze, wood and available material sculptures was the selfless act and ultimate end game.

Launching critical minds into a universe of revived appreciation and admiration of symbolic referencing happens “not often enough” they were both known to say; and with that understanding Jack and Romare went about changing destiny for those they would never know or even get to meet.

The final chapter of the African art scenario conceived by the two close friends, who also wished to compel others to act similarly of their act of giving, now rests in the capable hands of the very unique visionary Eric Edwards and the Cultural Museum of African Art.

We are eternally grateful to Dr. Eric Edwards for accepting this gift and responsibility advancing the goal to extend the cultural influences to open and eager minds, of the journey the art has traveled and one that the original artisans could have never imagined.

Gifted to The Cultural Museum of African Art of Brooklyn, NY by Peter Fein, son of Jack Fein, friend of Romare Bearden.