Oklahoma City KEY - Cover Story

Visitor’s to Oklahoma City with have the opportunity to explore African American art of the 1920s and 1930s and its lasting legacy with a one-of-a-kind exhibition held only at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art beginning February 5.

Organized by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Harlem Renaissance includes more than 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs by artists such as Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Malvin Gray Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald J. Motley Jr., James VanDerZee, and others. From the “vogue” of Harlem in the twenties to the Great Depression in the thirties, artists created innovative works that expressed the uniqueness of their experiences as African American artists, while participating in larger developments in American art.

Harlem Renaissance marks the first exhibition of African American art at the Museum in more than 20 years. Organized thematically, Harlem Renaissance explores a number of subjects, including Harlem as a literary center, portraiture and the “New Negro,” life in Paris and abroad, the influence of European modernism and African art, as well as images related to daily life, African American history, and the South. The exhibition also examines the idea of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance as a later artistic subject, through works by Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold. Highlights include Aaron Douglas’s The Creation (1927), Palmer Hayden’s Nous Quatre à Paris (We Four in Paris) (ca. 1930), Archibald J. Motley Jr.’s Jockey Club (1929), and Faith Ringgold’s Jo Baker’s Bananas (1997).

Illustrations for books and publications reveal Harlem as a literary and artistic center. The exhibition includes an original copy of The New Negro (1925), an important anthology edited by Alain Locke, in addition to James Weldon Johnson’s God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927), which features illustrations by Aaron Douglas. Harlem Renaissance also will explore issues of representation in African American art, featuring portraits and portrait “types” by artists such as Winold Reiss and Malvin Gray Johnson.

Harlem Renaissance displays the types of works artists created while living and traveling abroad. Throughout the twenties and thirties, numerous artists traveled to Paris where they received instruction, visited museums, and escaped the restrictions of segregation. Painted while living in the South of France, William H. Johnson’s Village Houses, Cagnes-sur-Mer (ca. 1928-1929) reflects the influence of European expressionism.

The exhibit shows the influence of African art, through works such as West Coast artist Sargent Johnson’s Copper Mask (1933) and Malvin Gray Johnson’s painting Self-Portrait (1934). During this period, many artists turned to their own lives and experiences for inspiration. Seeking to create accurate depictions of African American life and culture, artists portrayed a variety of subjects and styles. From urban life to folklore and the South, artists sought to be fresh and modern in their portrayals of life. Examples include Archibald J. Motley Jr.’s Saturday Night (1935) as well as William H. Johnson’s Jacobia Hotel (1930) and Landscape with Sun Setting, Florence, South Carolina (1930).

Harlem Renaissance also features works related to African American history, which became an important theme among artists by the thirties and during the era of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Artist Hale Woodruff’s Negroes with Jackson at New Orleans (1934) reflects this new interest and the stylistic influence of the Mexican muralists. Jacob Lawrence also turned to history on numerous occasions throughout his career, depicting scenes from the life of important historical figures, such as Harriet Tubman in Daybreak - A time to Rest (1967). The period’s lasting influence also is explored in later depictions of the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz Age, through Romare Bearden’s Jazz: (Chicago) Grand Terrace - 1930s (1964) and Faith Ringgold’s Jo Baker’s Bananas (1997).

In addition to painting and sculpture, the exhibit highlights photography as an important medium of artistic expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Photographers such as James VanDerZee captured the people and activities of Harlem, while others, such as James Latimer Allen and author and Harlem enthusiast Carl Van Vechten, captured the likenesses of notable Harlemites and Renaissance figures. Harlem Renaissance will also display photographs of Oklahoma City’s African American community during this period, which includes musician Charlie Christian, the young author Ralph Ellison, and the area known as “Deep Deuce.”

Harlem Renaissance also includes early short musical films of the period, featuring the first filmed appearances of Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Josephine Baker, and Bessie Smith. These films reveal the astonishing musical talent during the Harlem Renaissance as well as a visual document of black urban life in the 1920s and 30s.

The exhibition brings together key works from over 20 lending institutions. Lenders include the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT AND PROGRAMS

A color catalogue, published by the Museum, will feature an introduction by Curator Alison Amick and essays by Mary Ann Calo, director, Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts, and professor of art history, Colgate University; Theresa Leininger-Miller, associate professor of art history and director of graduate studies, University of Cincinnati; and Deborah Willis, professor and chair, Department of Photography and Imaging, New York University. An audio tour, written and produced by the Museum, also will be available.

Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thursday and Friday until 9:00 p.m., Sundays Noon to 5:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and children five and under are free. For more information, call 405-236-3100 or visit www.okcmoa.com.

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