Siren's Song
Series Title
The Odysseus SuiteArtist
Romare Bearden (American, 1911 – 1988)
Date
1979Medium
ScreenprintDimensions
Plate : 18 x 24 in. (45.72 x 60.96 cm)
Sheet : 21 7/8 x 29 1/4 in. (55.56 x 74.3 cm)
Mat : 30 x 36 in. (76.2 x 91.44 cm)Credit Line
Hope College CollectionObject Number
2022.79
Label
In 1977, African American artist Romare Bearden created a series of 20 watercolor and collage images inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, in which the trials and tribulations of the mythical characters become a metaphor for the Black experience from the days of the slave trade through the Great Migration in the 20th century. This image belongs to a set of six screen prints created by Bearden in 1979 based on the 1977 series. It depicts the episode when Odysseus is tied to the mast of his ship as it passes the island of the Sirens, humanoid creatures with beautiful voices who lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks surrounding their island.
