Art of the Harlem Renaissance

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Art of the Harlem Renaissance

• As we take a look at some art from the Harlem
  Renaissance examine each work for theme.
• Things to consider
• What do you think the artists message is?
• What specific details contribute to that message?
• What does the image have to say about the African
  American culture?

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Aaron Douglas (1898-1979)

• Aaron Douglas was the Harlem Renaissance artist
  whose work best exemplified the 'New Negro'
  philosophy. He painted murals for public
  buildings and produced illustrations and cover
  designs for many black publications including The
  Crisis and Opportunity. In 1940 he moved to
  Nashville, Tennessee, where he founded the Art
  Department at Fisk University and taught for
  twenty nine years.

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Into Bondage
1936Oil on canvas Aaron Douglas
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Aspects of Negro Life 62 Song of the Towers
1934 Oil on canvas Aaron Douglas
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Aspects of Negro Life from Slavery thru.
Reconstruction
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Aspects of Negro Life The Negro in an African
Setting 1934 Oil on canvas Aaron Douglas
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Archibald Motley Jr. (1891-1980)

• Archibald Motley Jr. labored in Chicago while
  teaching himself the fundamentals of painting and
  practicing his technique. His first solo exhibit
  came in 1928 in New York, and displayed his
  fascination with aspects of African American
  culture such as music, voodoo, and mysticism.
  After winning the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929,
  he traveled and studied in Paris, where upon his
  return, he began painting scenes of nightlife and
  gambling in response to Prohibition. Despite his
  African American heritage and the rise of the
  Harlem Renaissance movement, Motley was a member
  of Ashcan school that did not devote itself to
  any ethnicity.

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Blues 1929 Oil on canvas Archibald J. Motley Jr.
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Mending Socks 1924Oil on canvasArchibald J.
Motley Jr.
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Nightlife 1943 Oil on canvas Archibald J. Motley
Jr.
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Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)

• Lois Mailou Jones was a pioneering artist of the
  Harlem Renaissance. Born in New England, her life
  was still clouded by the prejudices of an
  everyday African American life. She began her
  career after attending the School of the Museum
  of Fine Art in Boston. Afterwards, she went
  through the racial barriers to exhibit her works
  to the world. She persevered through many
  roadblocks and prejudices, without ever losing
  her passion to express herself through art.

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Ascent of Ethiopia 1932 Painting Lois Mailou
Jones
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Les Fetiches 1938Oil on linen Loïs Mailou Jones
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William H. Johnson

• William H. Johnson entered the Harlem Renaissance
  during its making. He came to New York in 1918
  from Florence, South Carolina, to embark on his
  career. He became a student at the National
  Academy of Design. He was educated there for five
  years, during which he learned from greats such
  as George Luks and Charles Hawthorne. He then
  traveled to places in North Africa and Europe to
  paint and find residence. It was by the
  suggestion of Hawthorne that he traveled to Paris
  in 1826, where he settled, painted, and studied
  the works of modern European masters.

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Swing Low Sweet Chariot 1939 Oil on
board William H. Johnson
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A View Down Akersgate, Oslo 1935 Oil on burlap
William H. Johnson
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Street Musicians 1937 Oil on canvas William H.
Johnson
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Palmer Hayden (1890-1973)

• Born Peyton Hedgeman, he was given the name
  Palmer Hayden by his white commanding sergeant
  during World War I. In his town of brith, Wide
  Water, Virginia, he was often referred to as a
  self trained artist. He was a student at Cooper
  Union in New York and pursued independent studies
  at Boothbay Art Colony in Maine. He studied and
  painted in France, where he lived for some
  years.Hayden's reputation emanates from his
  realistic depictions of folklore and Black
  historical events. He, like Douglas, was also
  among the first Black American artists to use
  African subjects and designs in his painting.

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The Janitor Who Paints ca. 1930 oil on canvas
Palmer Hayden
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Beale Steet Blues 1938 Painting Palmer Hayden
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James VanDerZee (1886-1983)

• Many of VanDerZee's photographs celebrate the
  life of the emergent black middle class. Using
  the conventions of studio portrait photography,
  he composed images that reflected his clients'
  dignity, independence, and material comfort,
  characterizing the time as one of achievement,
  idealism, and success. VanDerZee's photographs
  portray the Harlem of the 1920s and 1930s as a
  community that managed to be simultaneously
  talented, spiritual, and prosperous.

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Evening Attire 1922Gelatin silver print James
VanDerZee
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His Ladys Corsage 1931Vintage gelatin silver
print James VanDerZee
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Alpha Phi Alpha Basketball Team
1926 Photograph James Van Der Zee