40. The Harlem Renaissance (The Jazz Age) (1918-1950)

What was it about? What were the goals?

The Harlem Renaissance was a social movement  that used art and culture for the promotion of black culture. The art of the Harlem Renaissance did not hold to any one style, like Cubism or Fauvism, so it makes more sense to think of it as a period of time, starting at the close of WWI and ending with the Great Depression of the 1930's (quite arbitrary as many of these artists continued working well into the 1970's and 80's). Many of these artists traveled to Europe where they dabbled in a variety of styles. Some studied at academies, while others were self-taught and held more to folk art traditions.

There were, however several common themes and goals, due to the history these artists shared. These goals were as political as they were artistic: to promote pride in black culture, to dispel racist myths, to document the impact of racism, to explore their Pan-African and Caribbean roots, and to further develop a new, legitimate African American identity that is sophisticated and cosmopolitan. This was all part of a larger social movement demanding legitimacy and equal rights for black citizens. This effort, and the community it created, laid a strong foundation for the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 60's.

A bit of historical context:

Following the American Civil War (1860-1863) the US entered a period called Reconstruction. At this time, emancipated slaves enjoyed new rights and privileges, including education and the right to vote. This led to some of the first elected black politicians in the US, representing several states in the American south. Unfortunately, Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877, in which the Republican presidential candidate Hayes was permitted to take office, despite losing the popular vote. In exchange, all federal soldiers were removed from the south, handing state control to the Democratic party, which was extremely racist at the time. Black politicians were forced out of office, black citizens were denied their right to vote, Jim Crow laws were set up to force a segregated society throughout the south. Many black citizens were unfairly accused and convicted of crimes, and then forced into brutal prison labor camps.  Free, black farmers, many exploited as sharecroppers, were devastated by boll weevils - beetles that ate 8% of all cotton produced in the 1920's. And, worst of all, was the wave of violence against innocent black men, women, and children, often at the hands of America's most notorious hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. All of these tragedies formed an African American identity, and were powerful themes for writers and artists.

Conditions deteriorated and worsened all the way up to WWI, when thousands of young, able-bodied men went off to war, leaving the factories empty. Thus, there were new opportunities for both women and African Americans to get jobs, mostly up north, around New York City and Chicago. All these factors caused a Great Migration of over 6 million blacks from the south to the north in search of a better life. In New York, the greatest influx of blacks was in Harlem, a borough of NYC that had long been home to immigrants from around the globe. And so, Harlem became a new center of black culture, along with Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington DC. The artists who flourished at this time were not the first African American artists. The 19th century produced, despite great adversity, several inspiring artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner and Mary Edmonia Lewis. What made the Harlem Renaissance special was that these artists began to receive recognition from major institutions - galleries, museums, critics and historians. 

The underlying philosophy of the period:

 Alain Locke is credited as the philosophical leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He earned a PhD from Harvard University, and then became the world's first black Rhodes scholar, studying at Oxford. He then chaired the philosophy department at Howard University for 37 years where he fought for equal rights and equal pay. Alain promoted the concept of "the new negro", based on the principle of self determination., that it should be up to the black community to define themselves, rather than to continue to be labeled and stereotyped by white culture.

How was it represented in the other arts – music, architecture, and literature?

The Harlem Renaissance was primarily a literary movement, with poets like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay being most famous. This period formally begins in 1917 with the plays of Ridgely Torrence. He hired black actors to play roles that rejected stereotypes, in favor of more realistic depth and emotion. In the same year, author Hubert Harrison of Harlem founded The Liberty League and the newspaper The Voice, in order to promote a "new negro movement". He also described the term "Harlem Renaissance" as a white invention, as black writers had been active, consistently, since 1850. In 1925 Alain Locke published The New Negro: An Interpretation, an anthology of contemporary black essays and poetry. Another major publication was The Crisis, a magazine founded in 1910 by W.E.B. Du Bois. While these new black owned enterprises were popular, another great feat of this movement was to introduce the work of these writers into white owned and operated magazines and publishing houses.

Another major element was music: the blues and jazz. This music inspired a new form of "jazz poetry" with works like "The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes. Jazz music also blurred the lines between music for the poor and for the rich, as musicians incorporated the high-status piano into jazz bands. These bands, led by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and others, gave birth to the long, storied tradition of American pop music, still running strong a hundred years later. The excellence of these players was indisputable, leading to the first African American musicians entering white bands. Roland Hayes, the first black composer, also rose to prominence at this time.

Was it great?

There's no disputing the genius of the Harlem Renaissance, although it is fair to say the fine art was greatly overshadowed by the music and literary elements. Everyone knows Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes. Not so many people know of Hale Woodruff (although they should). Much like contemporary hip hop, the Harlem Renaissance was controversial in its day for a number of reasons. These artists largely relied on well-educated black patrons for support, but the black intelligentsia of the time tended to be more conservative, frowning on the Renaissance's embrace of "low culture" and jazz, which was associated with loose morals, drug abuse, and homosexuality.

Then there's the romantic notion that art can change people, motivating them toward righteousness. Some people mock this notion, but it seems to work, albeit slowly. People today tend to be much more sensitive to fairness and respect for others. While not every work here fits that description overtly, the movement is a testament to the creativity and artistic genius of black artists that demonstrates, quite concretely and elegantly, racial equality.

Some art of this period is also criticized for reinforcing stereotypes with a forced "primitivism", as this artform was then popular in Europe. Many artists were encouraged to paint as "primitive" as possible, and you have to wonder if the resulting work was meant to be ironic.

African Dancer, by Palmer C Hayden

There was also the issue of communism. Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay were very sympathetic to communism, even travelling to the Soviet Union, under the promise that Russia would help finance a film about American segregation (a promise Russia broke). Hughes was investigated and forced to testify at senate hearings under McCarthy, where he disavowed himself from the communist party.

And then, there is the art itself, some of which was "naïve", (roughly) meaning childlike, and some of which might be described as academic, or derivative of other movements (impressionism, expressionism, cubism, etc). Having said that, the Harlem Renaissance was a modern period, so experimentation was the main focus. And, as these artists were allowed to grow and develop freely over several decades, they were able to develop unique voices and styles, and to create some powerful, memorable, and fantastic art. And it's also worth remembering that the core message of this artwork is the importance of freedom and equality, which is one of the most important themes to promote.

Some leading figures:

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877-1968)

James Van Der Zee (1886-1983)

Clementine Hunter (1886-1988)

Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948)

James Herring (1887-1968)

Horace Pippin (1888-1946)

Sargent Johnson (1888-1967)

Henry Bozeman Jones (1889-1973)

Palmer C Hayden (1890-1973)

Archibald Motley, Jr. (1891-1981)

Augusta Savage (1892-1962)

Minnie Evans (1892-1987)

Malvin Gray Johnson (1896-1934)

Aaron Douglas (1899-1979)

Hale Woodruff (1900-1980)

William Johnson (1901-1970)

Richmond Barthé (1901-1989)

Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)

Romare Bearden (1911-1988)

Earle Wilton Richardson (1912-1935)

Oliver (Ollie) Wendell Harrington (1912-1995)

Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012)

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)

John T. Biggers (1924-2001)

Lawrence Harris

Some of the most famous artworks of the time:

 

Bust of a Young Boy (Solomon Fuller, Jr.), by Meta Fuller, 1914

Secret Sorrow, by Meta Fuller, 1914

Immigrants in America, by Meta Fuller, 1915

Self-Portrait by James Van Der Zee, 1918

Self Portrait by Archibald Motley Jr., 1920

My Grandmother, by Archibald Motley Jr., 1922

Marcus Garvey (r) with George O. Marke (l) & Prince Kojo Tovalou-Houénou

by James Van Der Zee, 1924

Immigration, by Malvin Gray Johnson, 1925

Picking Cotton, by Hale Woodruff, 1926

Tropical Textile Designs by Lois Mailou Jones, 1928

Les Bords de l'Eure, Chartres by Hale Woodruff, 1928

Congo, by Aaron Douglas, 1928

Over the Harlem Rooftops, by Malvin Gray Johnson, 1928

The Blues, by Archibald Motley Jr., 1929

A Parisian Cafe, by Archibald Motley Jr., 1929

Tongues (Holy Rollers), by Archibald Motley Jr., 1929

Gamin (portrait of Ellis Ford), by Augusta Savage, 1929-30

Autumn, by Henry Bozeman Jones, 1930

Beautiful Bride, by James Van Der Zee, 1930

Portrait of a Young Woman, by James Van Der Zee, 1930

Nous Quatre a Paris, by Palmer C Hayden, 1930

The Ending of the War, Starting Home by Horace Pippin, 1930-33

The Harriet Tubman Memorial at Bennett College, by Aaron Douglas, 1931

Trusty on a Mule, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

Relic, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

Old Church, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

Coming Home, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

Giddap!, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

By Parties Unknown, by Hale Woodruff, 1931-46

A Casual Affair, by James Van Der Zee, 1932

A Couple, Harlem, by James Van Der Zee, 1932

The Ascent of Ethiopia, by Lois Mailou Jones, 1932

A Mask, by Sargent Johnson, 1933

Slavery through to Reconstruction, by Aaron Douglas, 1934

Black Belt, by Archibald Motley Jr. 1934

Self Portrait, by Malvin Gray Johnson, 1934

Saturday Night, by Archibald Motley, 1935

Portrait of Langston Hughes, by Carl Van Vechten, 1936

Midsummer Night in Harlem, by Palmer C. Hayden, 1936

Street Scene, Chicago, by Archibald Motley Jr., 1936

Stevedore, by Richmond Barthe, 1937

The Janitor Who Paints, by Palmer C. Hayden, 1937

Country Road, by Woodruff Hale, 1938

The Green Pastures Memorial, by Richmond Barthe, 1938

Les Fetiches, by Lois Nailou Jones, 1938

Augusta Savage with her sculpture, Realization, 1938

The Trial of the Amistad, 1st panel, by Hale Woodruff, 1938-9

The Harp, by Augusta Savage, 1939

Street Musicians, by William Johnson, 1939-40

Georgia Landscape, by Hale Woodruff, 1940

Self Portrait, by Lois Mailou Jones, 1940

Woman with a Bouquet, by LauraWheeler Waring, 1940

The Statue of Liberty, by Ollie Harrington, 1942

The Underground Railroad, by Hale Woodruff, 1942

Beale Street Blues, by Palmer C. Hayden, 1943

Domino Players, by Horace Pippin, 1943

Mr. Prejudice, by Horace Pippin, 1943

Katharine Cornell as Juliette, by Richmond Barthe, 1943

Folk Family, by William Johnson, 1944

Harmonizing, by Horace Pippin, 1944

Mob Victim, by Lois Mailou Jones, 1944

John Henry, from the series by Palmer C. Hayden, 1944-47

Died Wid His Hammer in his Hand, from the series by Palmer C. Hayden, 1944-47

Harriet Tubman, by Elizabeth Catlett, 1946-7

Portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Laura Wheeler Waring, 1948

Sharecropper, by Elizabeth Catlett, 1952