What was the central struggle described in Romare Bearden's Prevalence of Ritual: Tidings. 1967?

• A. how effectively he communicated and his need for creative expression.
• B. the political message behind the work.
• C. the material choices used in the sculpture.
• D. the scale of the piece.

Answer: (A)

The central issue is Bearden’s struggle to communicate his ideas clearly while pursuing his own creative expression. Prevalence of Ritual: Tidings uses a rich collage of layered images and textures to convey complex scenes from Black life and ritual. The way these fragments are juxtaposed invites viewers to piece together meaning, which reflects Bearden’s process of encoding personal experience, memory, and cultural signals into a visually expressive form. The emphasis is on making a message that feels authentic to him and that still resonates with an audience, rather than on making a political statement, choosing materials, or pursuing a particular scale. The piece shows the artist wrestling with how to convey multi-layered significance through form, so the viewer can grasp the intended communication without losing the expressive energy that drove the work.