Past Perfect: Sailing with Odysseus

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The saturated colors and jagged planes in the paintings of Romare Bearden (1911–1988) often seem to pulse with the syncopated rhythms of 20th-century jazz. Many of his works are based on memories of childhood visits to his grandparents’ homes in North Carolina and Pittsburgh, while others are set in Harlem, where his parents moved in 1914. After attending New York University, Bearden took night classes at the Art Students League with George Grosz, a major figure in the Dada art movement. Bearden incorporated social and political commentary in his art, producing political cartoons for the Baltimore African-American newspaper. Following a stint in the army during World War II and then six months in Paris, where he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, Bearden’s art career stalled, and he worked as a song writer and social worker for 14 years. When the March on Washington was organized in 1963, Bearden met with other African-American artists to produce a group collage for the event, creating vibrant images made of cut paper, textured fabric, foils and paint. Such mixed-media painting set his imagination free, enabling him to explore the world at large—including the world of the ancient Greeks. In 1977 he produced a group of more than 20 stunning watercolors and collages inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, some of which appear on the following pages.

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After fighting the Trojans for ten years, Odysseus and his men set sail for their homeland, Ithaca. The sailors endure many hardships, and eventually their fleet founders off the island of the beautiful nymph Calypso. The enchantress falls in love with Odysseus and keeps him captive, largely by force of potions and spells, even promising him immortality. After seven long years (of the ten years it takes Odysseus to complete the voyage from Troy to Ithaca), Zeus demands that she release him from her island paradise: “Thick, luxuriant woods grew round the cave, / alders and black poplars, pungent cypress too, / and there birds roosted, folding their long wings, / owls and hawks and the spread-beaked ravens of the sea” (Odyssey, Book 5.71-74).

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Early on, Odysseus and his men are imprisoned in the cave of the man-eating Cyclops Polyphemus, son of the sea-god Poseidon. Odysseus escapes by blinding the one-eyed giant, thus earning the enmity of Poseidon. After Odysseus leaves Calypso’s island, Poseidon destroys the Greek fleet in a storm, and then watches as Odysseus washes up on the island of Phaeacia: “Just look at [Odysseus] there, nearing Phaeacia’s shores / where he’s fated to escape his noose of pain / that’s held him until now. Still my hopes ride high— / I’ll give that man his swamping fill of trouble!” (Odyssey, Book 5.317-320).

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After losing his ship in a storm, Odysseus sinks toward the sea bottom. A nymph named Ino comes to his rescue: “Here, take this scarf, / tie it around your waist—it is immortal. / Nothing to fear now, neither pain nor death. / But once you grasp the mainland with your hands / untie it quickly, throw it into the wine-dark sea” (Odyssey, Book 5.381-385).

When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, the goddess Athena disguises him so that he won’t be recognized until he routs his wife Penelope’s suitors and reclaims the throne: “Athena had approached Laertes’ son Odysseus, / tapped him with her wand and made him old again. / She dressed him in filthy rags too, for fear [the swineherd] Eumaeus, / recognizing his master face-to-face, might hurry / back to shrewd Penelope, blurting out the news” (Odyssey, Book 16.505-509).

The saturated colors and jagged planes in the paintings of Romare Bearden (1911–1988) often seem to pulse with the syncopated rhythms of 20th-century jazz. Many of his works are based on memories of childhood visits to his grandparents’ homes in North Carolina and Pittsburgh, while others are set in Harlem, where his parents moved in 1914. After attending New York University, Bearden took night classes at the Art Students League with George Grosz, a major figure in the Dada art movement. Bearden incorporated social and political commentary in his art, producing political cartoons for the Baltimore African-American newspaper. Following […]