Acclaimed African-American collage artist Romare Bearden jubilantly expressed the heyday of the legendary Lafayette Theater in “Wrapping it Up at the Lafayette.” Located in Bearden’s Harlem neighborhood, the theater was a hotbed of plays and musical revues during the 1920s and 1930s. Bearden (1911 – 1988) used magazine pictures, scraps of paper and bits of fabric to vibrantly convey several scenes as they would appear to the audience. His masterful use of collage and love of jazz united in a medley that conveyed the spirit and reality of African-American culture.

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