What images come to mind when you hear the words “Harlem Renaissance”?
Do you picture a scene like this?
According to the Art Institute of Chicago, Archibald Motley Jr. painted many scenes of urban African American life. But his focus was not Harlem but His Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood:
Nightlife, one of Motley’s most celebrated paintings, takes viewers inside one of Bronzeville’s many nightspots. Although the artist painted the picture during World War II (1939–45), his figures seem to have left the world’s troubles behind. Inside the club, there is nothing but exuberant, upbeat energy.
The dancers’ pulsing, jumping movements are suggestive of jazz. Motley conveyed the sound and motion of jazz through composition and color. He outlined the figures with simplified, geometric shapes and emphasized diagonal lines, creating a sense of lively motion.
What kind of racial identity does Motley’s painting bring to life?
James VanDerZee’s photograph has become iconic of Jazz Age Harlem. According to Sarah Stacke at Duke’s Nasher Museum of art,
For more than two decades, James VanDerZee was the most sought-after photographer in Harlem. He opened his first studio in 1917, fortuitously coinciding with the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance – when Harlem defined itself as an urban community that celebrated a distinctive black culture and fostered independent visions of the black experience. …His carefully engineered photographs visually constructed blacks’ growing sense of self-empowerment after WWI, and contributed to the racial identity embodied in the idealized culture of the Harlem Renaissance.
A striking example of VanDerZee’s ability to assemble images that communicate ideals is Couple in Raccoon Coats. In this image, a man and woman pose in front of a wonderfully shiny Cadillac Roadster. …At first glance, this photograph seems an apt description of the roaring twenties. Yet closer inspection reveals the photograph was made in 1932, a full three years after the start of the Great Depression.
What kind of racial identity does VanDerZee’s image embody?
The Harlem race riot of 1935 was sparked by a false rumor that a 16-year-old Puerto Rican boy had been severely beaten by police after being caught stealing a pen knife. But the deeper causes of the riot were community mistrust of law enforcement, police brutality, unemployment, and race-based economic inequalities exacerbated by the Great Depression.
What kinds of racial identities do these headlines and images evoke?
How do they resemble or differ from images in the media today?
Works Cited
- “False Rumors of a Boy’s Death Sparks the Harlem Riot of 1935.” NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
- “In Search of VanDerZee.” The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. N.p., 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
- “Nightlife | The Art Institute of Chicago.” N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
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