Editing Romare Bearden (section)

==Early works==
His early works suggest the importance of [[African Americans]]' unity and cooperation. For instance, ''The Visitation'' implies the importance of collaboration of black communities by depicting intimacy between two black women who are holding hands. Bearden's vernacular realism represented in the work makes ''The Visitation'' noteworthy; he describes two figures in ''The Visitation'' somewhat realistically but does not fully follow pure realism, and distorts and exaggerates some parts of their bodies to "convey an experiential feeling or subjective disposition."<ref name="Mercer, Kobena 2005">Mercer, Kobena. "Romare Bearden, 1964; Collage as Kunstwollen." ''Cosmopolitan Modernisms''. London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 2005. 124–45.</ref> Bearden said, "the Negro artists [...] must not be content with merely recording a scene as a machine. He must enter wholeheartedly into the situation he wishes to convey."<ref name="Mercer, Kobena 2005"/>

In 1942, Bearden produced ''Factory Workers'' ([[gouache]] on casein on brown kraft paper mounted on board), which was commissioned by ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine to accompany an article titled ''The Negro's War''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Villa America: American Moderns, 1900-1950|last=Armstrong|first=Elizabeth|publisher=Orange County Museum of Art|year=2005|isbn=0-917493-41-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/villaamericaamer0000arms/page/98 98]|url=https://archive.org/details/villaamericaamer0000arms/page/98}}</ref> The article "examined the social and financial costs of racial discrimination during wartime and advocated for full integration of the American workplace."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/4428/factory-workers-romare-howard-bearden|title=Factory Workers, Romare Howard Bearden|website=artsmia.org|access-date=28 January 2017}}</ref> ''Factory Workers'' and its companion piece ''Folk Musicians'' serve as prime examples of the influence that Mexican muralists played in Bearden's early work.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />