LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.- The Alitash Kebede Gallery is proud to present Romate Bearden & Herbert Gentry: Tribute to a Friendship as the inaugural exhibition for the re-opening of the gallery at its new location in the Art 170 Building on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. This special exhibition includes collages and works on paper by Bearden from the Romare Bearden Foundation and Estate, and works on paper by Gentry from the artist’s estate. Noted Bearden biographer, Myron Schwartzman, author of Romare Bearden, His Life and Work (Abrams, 1990), assisted in curating the exhibition and contributed an essay which celebrates the friendship between Bearden and Gentry. Bearden (1911-1988) met Gentry (1919-2003) in 1951 while they were both living and working in Paris. The two artists remained good friends until Bearden’s death in 1988. Gentry died last year at the age of 85. Bearden, who is recognized as one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century, is best known for his collages depicting African American life and culture. In 1982, Bearden said of his friend Gentry, "He was among those American painters in Paris who, beginning in the early 1950’s, helped introduce the American concept of gesture, free invention, and vivid dissonances of color to the European sensibility."

The work of Romare Bearden is currently the subject of a highly acclaimed national traveling exhibition entitled "The Art of Romare Bearden" which was organized by and premiered at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, in September 2003. It is now touring the United States with presentations at the San Francisco Museum of Art; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. During the Whitney exhibition, in fall 2004, New York City will host a citywide celebration in Bearden’s honor.

Past retrospectives of Bearden’s work have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (1971), the Mint Museum of Art (1980), and the Detroit Institute of Arts (1986). His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Studio Museum of Harlem; among others, in addition to numerous important national and international private collections. Mr. Bearden was elected to the Academy of Arts and Letters (1966) and the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1972). He was the recipient of the prestigious Mayor’s Award of Honor for Art and Culture (1984) as well as the President’s National Medal of Art (1987).

Herbert Gentry’s work has been exhibited in major museums in the United States, Germany, Holland, France, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden. Additionally, his work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Hirshhorn Museum of Art, Washington, DC; the Studio Museum in Harlem; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the National Museum of Art, Stockholm; and numerous other public, private, and corporate collections.

Alitash Kebebe, who was a close personal friend of both artists, is celebrating her 20th anniversary in the art business with this exhibition. Selections from Ms. Kebede’s personal collection are the subjects of two museum exhibitions presently touring the country: "Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints - Hiroshima, Genesis & Toussaint Louverture"; and "Living With Art: Modern & Contemporary African American Art".