The exhibition’s co-curator Columbia University Professor Robert G. O’Meally will lead an informal tour through the show’s gallery. Highlighting certain elements in Bearden’s early life, in the South and in the North, that encouraged him as an artist—gardens, quilts, music, and certain larger-than-life individuals—this tour will feature close-up analyses of many of the show’s key paintings.   

Robert G. O’Meally is the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has served on the faculty for twenty-five years. The founder and director of Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies, O'Meally is the author of The Craft of Ralph Ellison, Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday, The Jazz Singers, and Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey. 

Cost: General Admission: $14.50, High Museum Members: FREE

Post-Event Cash Bar Reception: Contact Laura Wellington at [email protected] or 404-514-3162 about the post event gathering at 5Church by 3:45pm. CU Profs O'Meally and Griffin will be in attendance.