Memories of Bunch
Most excerpts are from video and audio interviews conducted by Franklin & Marshall College students as coursework for "Sleeping in the Fire: Art, Culture and Mental Health" during the Spring, Summer and Fall semesters of 2014
Most excerpts are from video and audio interviews conducted by Franklin & Marshall College students as coursework for "Sleeping in the Fire: Art, Culture and Mental Health" during the Spring, Summer and Fall semesters of 2014
PETER MURPHY
Poet and educator “I didn’t really know any black people [in the 1970's] and I didn’t know how diverse New York was. When I heard people with different accents I assumed everybody was Puerto Rican. I had no idea until I became involved in the Baha'i community. Bunch and Judy really befriended me and until this day I don’t know why. They must have seen something in me that they recognized, that I didn’t see. They treated me with a kind of respect—I just thought they were crazy. They assumed I was smart, they assumed I was this, they assumed I was that, and I didn’t see myself as being any of those things, but I valued their friendship. What I do remember is Bunch sitting back, smoking his pipe, talking very slowly, and I was just hanging on every word, and trying to understand what he was saying. And again, this is the part I didn’t understand, he was speaking to me like I knew what he was talking about, like I was educated. He saw something in me that I didn’t recognize in myself." DON CAMP
Artist, photographer and educator "I was working at a newspaper when I first met Bunch. I wanted to be an artist but I guess I didn't know very much about being an artist. When I met him, the thing I remember most was trying to understand him, and I didn’t. To me, he was a man that I didn’t understand. Now, reading his essay (on Bearden) I realize he was writing things I wouldn't have understood at that time. I just simply wouldn’t have understood—it was like, these are ramblings. And maybe they are ramblings but I understand the ramblings now because I've lived through it (being an artist) and I am experiencing it even now." DR. WILLIAM ROBERTS
Clinical psychologist, former member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States "A very intense person, very determined, extremely creative, and very conscious of social issues and concerns. Simply being black and male in America … his intensity was often misunderstood for aggression and hostility, when he was really just simply passionate. He was a person who walked the path of a visionary. He always saw the beauty in others, even those with whom he disagreed … He was a humble individual and he was also a promoter of justice and a believer in justice. Because of his great passion, people sometimes put him in a box and couldn’t or wouldn’t hear him. But we have the legacy of his work, which … in many ways speaks to that passion. And then of course his championing of Romare Bearden and other artists, and how he honored them. It’s a good example of somebody who people want to call angry but, you know, angry people don’t champion other people. If you’re really angry there’s no space in you to honor others, to love others, to appreciate others, to value others, to pay tribute to others. Bunch was all about that." CHRIS RUHE
Musician and friend “Well, Bunch was a genius. He was a tortured genius. He was never really happy, his childhood and all… he always suffered. Bunch's art was very transparent … It was very true. I always loved his artwork ... It was very transparent, very honest. It was perfectly executed." INA McNEIL
Artist and educator, direct descendent of Native American leader Chief Sitting Bull "I remember one time visiting him and he was pouring this stuff [polyester resin for transparent collage] and it smelled terrible! I just found it interesting what he was doing… whether it be jewelry or a piece of nature. Later on I learned to appreciate what he was doing. Getting to know him, you find out he has gold in that heart of his...” LISA FLETCHER-COOPER
Medical professional, longtime friend of Bunch's daughter, Elizabeth: "He was like a father figure to me. A very strong presence...just very strong, very patient. He took the time to speak to you and not at you. I remember him as patient, and kind, and caring. He was this brilliant, brilliant man, very tall, very soft-spoken. And his art--the colors were just absolutely brilliant. I've never seen anything like it." TOM HALSTEAD
Publisher, longtime friend "Bunch Washington was a creative master with unrelenting flaws, yet he never gave up. He always expected life to get better. He had a different way of looking at life, a different thought process than what I considered normal. It probably was always an issue for him. He was a unique person and he just didn’t think like other people. He always thought outside of the box." NORBERT DUBOIS
Photographer and longtime friend: "If a person doesn’t know Bunch, if they saw him from a distance, they might say, ‘Who is this tall poor black man?’, because they would be judging him by the appearance of his clothes. But then when they get close to him and look at his eyes--he had a way of looking at people without saying anything---you knew that this was a very serious, intelligent person.” |
LES PAYNE
Pioneering journalist, art collector, former editor of Newsday, Pulitzer Prize winner "Bunch Washington was an unforgettable character...He had a strong personality. When he talked he looked at you. A lot of people don’t... And he had that way of talking, he had that way of leaning back, he had a casual kind of way. And if you weren’t careful you would probably dismiss him as being a casual guy. His book on Bearden was a tremendous, tremendous accomplishment. Not just for black art, but for ALL art. It was a statement--a bold, necessary statement. I can't overstate that. Bunch is well worth memorializing and presenting anew to the current generations of artists as well as to black folks who, as Gil Noble used to say, need to know their history and those who helped make it. He is one of the history makers." EDDIE GOLDBERG
Optometrist and friend "He was a man of a unique personality. I don’t know if there's anybody like him in the world. Bunch is the hardest black man I ever got to know in my entire life. Everybody else in the world is easy compared to Bunch Washington. Being friends with Bunch is like walking on eggshells; you always think you’re going to say the wrong thing and he’s going to look at you. Bunch never had any money. But in a sense he was very generous. He made a picture of my wife and gave it to her... He was multifaceted. Depending on who you were, he didn’t let you in. When he was generous, it was more than just generosity. He had great empathy for anyone who had struggled and overcome." TOM APOSPOROS
Former mayor of Poughkeepsie, New York "He had a wonderful way of speaking and had a great smile. He was a charming, gregarious man in the most positive sense with expressive eyes and a wonderfully revelatory face in conversation. Yes, I remember the tall, straight-backed, proud walking man of great intellect and artistic talent. I was fortunate to know him and these memories stay with me.” JOSEPH MCNEIL
Retired US Air Force Major General, member of the "Greensboro Four" who helped spark the civil rights movement by "sitting in" at an all-white Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960 "One of a kind. Quiet, unique, different. He was unique in terms of appearance. His art was unique--the medium he expressed it with. You didn't see people going around with [that medium]. His work was important, but he had to do it in the context of the economic reality of the time....having at a very young age published a book and at such a young age [being able to] interpret the thoughts of somebody as profound as a Romare Bearden and put it all in perspective--it was something not many people were doing at the time. We had to figure out how to survive in an environment that often wasn't very friendly... Bunch had a difficult time adapting to that environment. You also didn't see many other artists embraced by Romare Bearden [to the extent that Bunch was]. Bearden was very careful about his friendships. We would talk about lofty goals and high ideals. There's no apparent payback other than your own self-enrichment...you sacrifice so that others can benefit. You break the mold. I'd say Bunch did that. That's why we're still talking about him." MICHAEL VALENTINE
Founder of Valentine Museum of Art and Breukelen Art Magazine "It’s only now that I publish art books that I can really appreciate what he accomplished working with Bearden on that book. It was a tremendous, monumental accomplishment. To convince a major publisher at that time to do a book on a black artist? Nobody but Mr. Washington knows how difficult it was. Mr. Washington was a very sophisticated person and I’ve come to learn not to use that term with too many people because sophistication has nothing to do with how educated you are, or the family you came from, or the school you went to, or your friends. Your sophistication comes from within, and Mr. Washington was very, very sophisticated." TAFA
Artist and friend "I love the work that he did. I asked him, “Have you shown this? Have you had exhibitions?” But he didn’t seem to be that interested in doing that. When you do art, there’s some kind of psychological nakedness that you expose to the rest of the world. Most people keep it in… but you let it out, and it’s out there." CLYDE DELORIS HERRING
Artist, longtime family friend "He was very noble, carried himself with dignity. He was kind, generous with his art and with his knowledge of the Baha’i Faith … Years later Bunch’s life changed. It was hard for me to see the man I had met in the prime of his life … falter. But he was still very polite and soft-spoken—his voice was gentle and sweet, and he spoke very slowly…I have a very strong spiritual connection with Bunch now that he’s passed ... I know his soul is free of everything that burdened him." |