Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an age of significant intellectual advancement in the US, and it majorly started in the city of New York in the 18th. At the time in the 192os, it was known as the New Negro Movement and was named after Alain Locke. The period marked an increased awareness of people on issues spanning from social, intellectual, and an increase in artists who wanted to address the issue in society through writing. This period generated a lot of good artist such as Aaron Douglas. Douglas was a painter and an illustrator who used murals and illustrations that addresses social injustices in society. At the period of Harlem, there were a lot of social injustices and profound disunity between the blacks and the white. Aaron used the style of African Century imagery to symbolize the crimes that were happening in society. He is one of the well-known artists of the Harlem era and was a leader. Douglas developed a love for art later on in life from watching her mother paint with watercolors. He graduated from Topeka, high school where he studied fine arts as and was very passionate about art and earned his exceptional art degree in 1922 and it is in the 1930s that Aaron embraced artfully and was funded on his artistic trips, and he continued producing more works of art. Another artist of the Harlem Renaissance era was Jacob Lawrence, who was a painter of African American origin known for his portrayal of the African American lifestyle. He painted paintings that depicted the life of African American highlighting the struggles that they went through every day to survive in America. Jacob kick started his career with progress administration art classes in New York City and also studied at the art workshop in Harlem. He is considered as one of the first African American artists to be trained in Harlem.
One noticeable work of Aaron Douglas is the Sahdji (tribal women) of 1925 the art work by Douglas draws the imagination from African art and its culture. The image is a representation of the black woman, and it portrays that it is not necessary to be written to be considered beautiful. The painting depicts the features of the African woman with thick lips and curvaceous body to outline the beauty of the African woman. It shows that African American woman should embrace their beauty and not put standards or see themselves lesser because they are black.
Jacob Lawrence’s outstanding work of art is the builders painted in 1947; the painting depicts African Americans as the laborers of the nation and those who contribute hugely to the growth of the country. It is a depiction of wanting equality because African American we equally contributors to the growth of the nation. The painting shows that Africans were in the process of building not anything specific but just developing as a communal activity of civil action where there are connection and corporation for the advancement of everyone in the community. The art indicates the spirit of togetherness and what people can achieve if they come together and work towards a given goal.
Aaron Douglas was a graphic illustrator and used imagery and murals as his original art style. The visual image representations used by Aaron were perfect making him be considered as the father of art during the Harlem Renaissance era. In the period the central theme was about African American culture and socialism because of any injustices that they were going through in the United States, these representations were to educate people and shade light on these injustices with the hope of one time eradicating them. Aaron significantly used graphics and achieved great success, which earned him endorsements to travel to countries such as Haiti for artwork exhibition. The African Americans were a minority group and were considered as outsiders who had come to intrude in America, and as a result, many of the African Americans felt inferior towards their white counterparts. Aaron tried to address these issue by creating works of art that were meant to eliminate social injustices.
Jacob Lawrence was more of a painter, and he used brushes on canvas to produces most of his paintings. Being an African American, the central theme of his works was about the liberation of the African Americans from the injustices that they were going through. Having schooled in Harlem and witnessed firsthand the wrongs that were being netted against the African Americans his artworks were to mostly advocate for the liberation of the black people and strengthening the faith of the black people. He mainly created portraits which de used to pass across his message. He was an advocator of social and a storyteller as in he could give the message he intended to as a story that related to a topic that he felt needed attention.
They are educative and give a perspective of respecting people no matter their skin color and where they live. The art by Aaron, Sahdji, is a piece of art that makes you appreciate the diverseness of beauty and to understand theta there are no standards to beauty and every woman is beautiful regardless of their skin color. It has made me appreciate more the diversity of the nation and also encourages others to be more conscious and consider other people. The arts give an insight into how artwork can be a powerful tool in highlighting the injustices in society and make people take action.
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