Bearden transports Omar Khayyám’s Persia to the Tropics for his take on “Quatrain XI” from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. But the man is Persian and the woman is black.
Though the poem suggests sensuality, Bearden presents the poet clothed but the woman naked, except for a body sash and a head turban. It’s still a lover’s tryst nourished with a promise of bread, wine, and poetry. Bearden’s lovers are almost hidden amidst foliage in bewildering shapes and brilliant colors.
“Quatrain XI” is among the best-known verses of The Rubáiyát:
A Book of Verses underneath a Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness-
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
See Romare Bearden. Khayam and the Black Girl (1971). Collage. Private Collection; Khayyam, Omar. “The Rubáyát: of Omar Khayyám.” Translated and edited by Edward Fitzgerald. London: Bernard Quarich, 1859.