Transcript Slide 1

The Harlem Renaissance
• Time: End of WWI to start of the
• Great Depression.
• Two-ness: Who you think you are vs what you
perceive others to think you are (W.E.B. Du
Bois).
• Common themes: alienation, marginality, the
use of folk material, the use of the blues
tradition, the problems of writing for an elite
audience.
The Great Migration
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Harlem is the new suburb (1904)
Educated African Americans move in
“White Flight”
WWI causes mass movement of African
Americans from the south
– Find jobs
– Sick of southern racism
The Effects
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Racial consciousness
“Back to Africa" (Marcus Garvey)
Racial integration
Music (jazz, spirituals and blues)
Art (painting, sculpture, photography)
Dance
Writing (poetry, plays, novels, etc)
Notable Poets
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Claude McKay
Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes
Jean Toomer
Jessie Redmon Fauset
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
Notable Artists
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W. H. Johnson
Lois Mailou Jones
Sargent Johnson
Aaron Douglas
Palmer Hayden
Jacob Lawrence
Archibald Motley Jr.
Notable Musicians
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Louis Armstrong
Josephine Baker
Duke Ellington
Billie Holiday
Jelly Roll Morton
Bessie Smith
Example Poem
Claude McKay (1889-1948)
America
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
List words that describe this poem.
Example Art
Aaron Douglas
Into Bondage 1936
List words that describe
this painting.
Example Song
• They Can't Take That Away From Me
Holiday, 1937
• List words that describe this song.
Billie
Artists
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.
“The Creation”
• 1935
• Oil on Canvas
• Aaron Douglas
“The Crucifixion”
• 1927
• Oil on board
• Aaron Douglas
“Into Bondage”
1936
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
Aspects of Negro
Life: “The Negro
in an African
Setting”
1934
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
“The Founding of Chicago”
• 1930 – 33
• Aaron Douglas
“Building More Stately Mansions”
• 1944
• Oil on canvas
• Aaron Douglas
“From Slavery Through Reconstruction”
• 1934; Aaron Douglas; oil on canvas
Aspects of Negro Life #62:
“Song of the Towers”
1934
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
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.
Blues
1929
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Mending Socks
1924
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Nightlife
1943
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)
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Lawrence's work recounts the AfricanAmerican experience in this country.
Although he has been labeled a protest
artist and social realist, in truth he
considered himself first and foremost an
artist. His images convey the hopes,
dreams, and courage of the black
community. He often captured life
observed on the streets of postDepression Harlem. He also recorded
another history of America, one that was
told to him by his family, neighbors, and
friends. Lawrence's art is human and
accessible, with a quiet dignity and
understatement that makes it all the more
powerful. He is the first African-American
artist to have his work included in the
permanent collection of the Museum of
Modern Art, New York.
Dust to Dust
(The Funeral)
1938
Gouache on paper
Jacob Lawrence
Crippled Child on Crutches
1935
Pastels on paper
Jacob Lawrence
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 perservered
through many roadblocks and prejudices,
without ever losing her passion to express
herself through art.
Les Fetiches
1938
Oil on linen
Loïs Mailou Jones
Textile Design for Cretonne
1928
Loïs Mailou Jones
Ascent of Ethiopia
1932
Painting
Lois Mailou Jones
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.
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
1939
Oil on board
William H. Johnson
Lamentation
1939
Oil on Board
William H. Johnson
A View Down
Akersgate, Oslo
1935
Oil on burlap
William H. Johnson
Street Musicians
1937
Oil on canvas
William H. Johnson
Sargent Johnson
Johnson lived and worked in the Bay
Area during a time of great diversity
in intellectual, cultural, and artistic
production. Influenced by what was
known as the Negro Renaissance of
the 1920s, he focused his early work
on the issue of racial identity, seeking
to show the natural beauty and
dignity of African Americans. Bay
Area art communities were
flourishing when Johnson arrived in
1915, and he later became influential
in an artistic environment that would
develop its own variety of
Modernism.
Mask
ca. 1930-1935
copper on wood base
Sargent Johnson
Forever Free
1933
Sculpture
Sargent Johnson
Mask
1933
Sculpture
Sargent Johnson
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.
The Big Bend Tunnel
1940
Oil on canvas
Palmer Hayden
The Janitor Who Paints
ca. 1930
oil on canvas
Palmer Hayden
Beale Steet Blues
1938
Painting
Palmer Hayden
James VanDerZee (1886-1983)
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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.
Evening Attire
1922
Gelatin silver print
James VanDerZee
His Lady’s Corsage
1931
Vintage gelatin silver print
James VanDerZee
Alpha Phi Alpha Basketball Team
1926
Photograph
James Van Der Zee
Augusta Savage (1892-1962)
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Augusta Savage was a world-famous
African-American sculptor. Born in Florida,
she had her first formal art training in New
York City at Cooper Union, the school
recommended to her by Solon Gorglum.
While she studied, she supported herself
by doing odd jobs, including clerking and
working in laundries. In 1926 she
exhibited her work at the
Sesquicentennial Exposition in
Philadelphia. That same year she was
awarded a scholarship to study in Rome.
However, she was unable to accept the
award because she could not raise the
money she would have needed to live
there. Later, she did study in Europe.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
1939
Scupture
Augusta Savage
Gamin
1930
Painted Plaster
Augusta Savage
Musicians
Billy Holiday (1915-1959)
The first popular jazz singer to move
audiences with the intense, personal
feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday
changed the art of American pop
vocals forever. Almost fifty years after
her death, it's difficult to believe that
prior to her emergence, jazz and pop
singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley
tradition and rarely personalized
their songs; only blues singers like
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey actually
gave the impression they had lived
through what they were singing.
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They Can't Take That Away From Me
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Summertime
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Getting Some Fun Out Of Life
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
Born 29 April 1899 in Washington DC,
composer, bandleader, and pianist
Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington
was recognized in his lifetime as one
of the greatest jazz composers and
performers. Nicknamed "Duke" by a
boyhood friend who admired his
regal air, the name stuck and became
indelibly associated with the finest
creations in big band and vocal jazz. A
genius for instrumental
combinations, improvisation, and jazz
arranging brought the world the
unique "Ellington" sound that found
consummate expression in many of
his works
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East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
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The Mooche
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It Don't Mean A Thing
Ethel Waters (1900-1977)
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Ethel Waters was a popular black
American singer and actress. She
gained recognition as a singer of both
blues and popular songs. Waters
starred in several Broadway musicals,
and introduced a number of wellknown songs during her stage career.
She also appeared in dramatic roles.
Waters was born in Chester,
Pennsylvania. She began singing in
nightclubs and in vaudeville when
she was 17 years old.
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Smile!
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Am I Blue?
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Guess Who's In Town
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Louis Daniel Armstrong was an American
jazz musician. Armstrong was a
charismatic, innovative performer
whose musical skills and bright
personality transformed jazz from a
rough regional dance music into a
popular art form. Probably the most
famous jazz musician of the 20th
century, he first achieved fame as a
trumpeter, but towards the end of his
career he was best known as a
vocalist and was one of the most
influential jazz singers.
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Skid-Dat-De-Dat
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Potato Head Blues
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Gut Bucket Blues
Fletcher Henderson (1898-1952)
• Fletcher Henderson was very
important to early jazz as
leader of the first great jazz
big band, as an arranger and
composer in the 1930s, and
as a masterful talent scout.
Yet, at the height of the
swing era, Henderson's band
was little-known.
• Ain't She Sweet?
• Alabamy Bound
• One Of These Days
Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
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Josephine Baker grew up in St. Louis,
Missouri, but left home at an early age
and began performing on stage. She
appeared in the chorus lines of all-black
revues on vaudeville, and travelled to
Paris in 1925 as part of La Revue Negre.
Her lithe body and clowning around on
stage caused a sensation, and by the
1930s she was so successful she had her
own nightclub. Baker was famous for her
exotic outfits and uninhibited sexuality,
her trademarks being a leopard on a
leash, a skirt made of feathers and a
dance in which she wore bananas on her
head and not much else.
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Blue Skies
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Bye Bye Blackbird
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Sleepy Time Gal
Jelly Role Morton (1890-1941)
Piano player Jelly Roll Morton was a
pioneer of modern American jazz. He
grew up in New Orleans and began
playing in saloons and brothels when
he was still a boy. In later years he
performed solo and with his band,
the Red Hot Peppers, and he is
particularly remembered for a series
of recordings he made in Chicago for
RCA Victor in the 1920s. Morton is
often credited with mixing individual
improvisation within rehearsed group
arrangements, a format which
became a staple of jazz.
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Honeysuckle Rose
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Wolverine Blues
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Jelly Roll Blues
Bessie Smith (1894-1937)
• Bessie Smith is largely
regarded as the most popular
and successful blues singer of
1920s and 1930s, and she
has had an enormous
influence on singers
throughout the history of
American popular music,
including Mahalia Jackson,
Janis Joplin, and Norah
Jones.
• See If I Care
• Down Hearted Blues
• Gulf Coast Blues