Art inspired by AD:
The most celebrated Harlem Renaissance artist:
Aaron Douglas (1899-1979), called “the Father of Black American Art,”
+ Adapted African techniques in paintings, murals, book illustration etc.
+ Defined a modern visual language that represented black Americans in a new light.
+ Began his artistic career as a landscape painter but was influenced by modern art movements such as cubism, in which subjects appear fragmented and fractured, and by the graphic arts, which typically use bold colors and stylized forms.
+ He and other artists also looked toward West Africa for inspiration, making personal connections to the stylized masks and sculpture from Benin, Congo, and Senegal, which they viewed as a link to their African heritage.
+ They also turned to the art of antiquity, such as Egyptian sculptural reliefs, of popular interest due to the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb.
+ Helped cultivate the concept of the ‘New Negro’ through the illustrations of black life he contributed to Locke’s anthology of the same name.
+ Painted murals for buildings and designed the cover art for numerous black publications, including The Crisis and Opportunity.
+ Moved to Tennessee in 1940, where he taught at Fisk University for 20 years and subsequently founded their art department.
+ Under President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration, Douglas also painted
a mural for the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem.
The four-panel series showcases the African American story, from Africa to
enslavement in the United States to liberation after the Civil War and the
creation of a new life in New York City.
Other artists featured who were inspired by Aaron Douglas' work:
Street Artist @mcmaniphes
Gallery Artist Kara Walker
Mural and personal work by me @importance_of_daydreams
Art assignment: Symbolic Self Portraits
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