Black History Month 2021 | Harlem Renaissance Art

The Harlem Renaissance was an expression of a people who had previously been subjugated and molded into a different culture. As such, many burgeoning artists of the time sought to encapsulate the African American life through their own eyes. But unlike their contemporaries who portrayed black life through prose and music, the artists of the Harlem Renaissance used striking visuals to make their example. Artists such as Lois Mailou Jones used warm, earthy color palettes fused with traditional African imagery to create stories within her canvas. Though her work was initially barred from competitions due to her race, she would later receive recognition as she traveled around the world as a teacher. One of the biggest mainstream artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence found success at the age of 23 with his 60-panel “Migration Series” of paintings which sequentially told a seamless narrative of the African American migration from the south to the urban north. Shedding further light on African American life during the early 20th century, photographer James Van Der Zee would become known for his images of civilian life. His photos of middle-class African American families supplemented his coverage of important black figures such as Marcus Garvey and Countee Cullen, and would later be featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in an exhibit titled “Harlem on My Mind.” Other prominent artists of the time would find their work exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, ushc as Charles Alston who would become the director of Harlem Hospital’s murals and the first black supervisor of the Federal Art Project in 1935. The Harlem Renaissance was not only a breakthrough in artistic expression for the black community as they found recognition from the wide public, but they would also help bring their community’s life to the public awareness.