Transcript Music and Art of the 1920s - Gertz

Music and Art of the 1920s
By: Frank
Jackie
Roberto
Music birth of the Harlem
Renaissance
• During the Harlem Renaissance African
Americans build a new type of music. This
type of music came to be known as JAZZ.
• Jazz- was a mixture of West African, and
Black folk music.
• Jazz was so popular that White folks
traveled to Harlem to sing and dance.
• The types of jazz are swing, Dixieland,
band, and orchestral.
The Cotton Club & The Savoy
Ballroom
• The two most popular clubs where you could
hear Harlem’s new music was in the Cotton Club
or the Savoy ballroom.
The cotton club
operated during
prohibition and was
closed in 1925 due to
the sale of liquor. It
was operated by
Owney Madden a
white gangster. The
club build many
stereotypes by
depicting blacks as
savages. The club
was made for white
entertainment.
The Savoy Ballroom was
one of the first racially
integrated public places
in the country. Both
African Americans and
Whites could dance
together in the ballroom.
Edward K. Ellington
Biography
• Edward K. (Duke) Ellington was born on April 29, 1899.
Ellington aspired to become a musician since he was a
little kid; his influences were ragtime pianists. When he
was 17 he taught himself how to play the piano. In 1923
he moved to New York and got a job at the cotton club.
At the cotton club he got worldwide recognition and is
now considered one of the most influential figures of
jazz. His jazz included vocals, he was leader of his band
the Washingtonians. He was noted for his instrument
combinations, which people referred to as the “Ellington
Effect”. He also received doctorates from both Harvard
and Yale. Ellington was a Grammy winner and was
included into the Grammy hall of fame. He was also a
nominee to the Pulitzer Prize. He died of lung cancer
and pneumonia on May 24, 1974 at age 75. His son
Mercer Ellington took over the band after his death.
Career Highlights
• Duke Ellington was a bandleader and composer. Some
of Edward Ellington’s hits included:
• Do Nothing Till You Hear from me
• Caravan
• Perdido
• It don’t mean a thing
• Satin Doll
• Take the “A” Train
• Duke Ellington composed tons of music and sold
enormous amounts of CD’s.
Art birth of the Harlem Renaissance
• During the Harlem Renaissance African Americans did not just
give birth to music, theater, and literature; they also identified
themselves with art.
• In their art they expressed depictions of the new African
American and scenes of African American life from many
perspectives.
• Through art, African Americans also fought for rights. They
published their art in magazines like the NAACP’s “the crisis”,
or “Opportunity”, and “New Masses”.
Edward Hopper
1892-1967
Biography
• Edward Hopper was born in the small Hudson River town of Nyack,
NY on July 22, 1882. Born into a middle class family, his dad owned
a store. When he was a teen he had already decided to become an
artist, and his parents advised him to study commercial illustration.
He attended the New York school of Illustrating and later on to the
New York school of Art. Later on he went to study to France, while in
Europe he visited England, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and
Spain. Edward Hopper loved Europe and many of his art
represented what he saw in his trips. In 1920 he had his first solo art
exhibition but he failed to sale any of his paintings, so he made his
living through commercial illustrations. In 1924 he had his 2nd solo
exhibition but this time he sold all of his paintings. Most of Hopper’s
art was realist. Edward Hopper continued to paint until his death on
May 15, 1967.
Hopper’s Paintings
•
Edward Hopper’s first
designated painting was
“The House by the
Railroad”. The theme of this
drawing was the loneliness
of travel.
“Early Sunday Morning” is the
title of this painting. The Whitney
Museum bought this painting at
a expensive cost in 1930.
This is perhaps Edward Hopper’s most famous painting. It is titled
“Nighthawks. The Theme of this painting may also be loneliness. New
York is always filled with light, but in this painting Hopper chose to
make it lonely, boring, and dull.
Aaron Douglas
1898-1979
Biography
• Aaron Douglas was born in Kansas on 1898. He
received a B.A. in art from the University of
Nebraska. He began to teach in Kansas schools
and later studied with German artist Winold
Reiss who encouraged Douglass to inspire
himself from African art. Douglass’s style of art
portrayed that of African. W.E.B. Dubois and
Alain Locke noticed him because of his African
style of art. They then hired him to illustrate their
magazines, like “the crisis”. Alain Locke called
him “Pioneering Africanist. His art influenced
African heritage and pride. Douglass died in
1979.
Aaron Douglass painted these pictures on
a mural on the 135th St. branch of the New
York Public Library in Harlem. His paintings
portrayed freedom in Africa, to
enslavement in America, and liberty after
the Civil War.
Bibliography
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"About the Savoy Ballroom." 8 Mar 2008
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"Songs of the soul: the Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1935 ." 08 Feb 2002.
8 Mar 2008
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Jerving, Ryan. "Cotton Club." 08 Feb 2002. 8 Mar 2008
<http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/harlem/cotton.html>.
"Edward K. (Duke) Ellington." April 2002. 8 Mar 2008
<http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&Co
mposerId_2872=2311>.
"The Harlem Renaissance." EyeconArt. 8 Mar 2008
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Powell, Richard. "African American Art." 8 Mar 2008
<http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/a/african_american_4.html>.