Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

Angelica Robinson
English 344
Dr. Saloy
Research Project

Harlem Renaissance Arts: Painting the Portrait of the New Negro

The Harlem Renaissance, originally called the New Negro Movement, can be described as a cultural explosion that took place in Harlem in the early 1900’s. During this period Harlem was a haven for black writers, artists, actors, musicians and scholars. Through literature and art, blacks created a new image for themselves defying pervading racial stereo types. Blacks were finally able to showcase their many talents as well as their intellect, forming a concrete image of the New Negro. The New Negro was not comfortable being categorized as rural, and undereducated. During the Harlem Renaissance, there was a battle to create
the image of the New Negro and visuals artists fought on the front line. Sculptors, painters and photographers presented bold portraits of African Americans during this period, as well as scenes of black life. Alongside their counterparts in literature, visual artists aimed to gain control over the representation of their people. Black painters and sculptors developed a new repertoire of the black social and cultural image and discarded white caricature and denigration.
After the abolishment of slavery, the newly emancipated African Americans began to strive for civic participation, political equality, economic and cultural self-determination.
Whites deprived blacks of their civil and political rights by terrorizing black communities with lynch mobs and other forms of violence. As life in the South became increasingly difficult, African Americans began to migrate north in great numbers. African Americans sought a better standard of living from the institutionalized racism in the South. Through this great migration the New Negro was born. The New Negro had a more outspoken advocacy of dignity and a refusal to submit to the practices and laws of Jim Crow and segregation. Harlem was the destination for several blacks from around the country, attracting both people seeking work from the South, and an educated class who made the area a center of culture. The migration of southern Blacks to the north transformed the image of the African American from “undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication.” (Carol, 80) This renewed identity led to a greater social consciousness, and paved the way for Blacks to branch out culturally, intellectually and
socially.
The Harlem Renaissance was developed out of the changes that had taken place in the African-American community since the expansion of black communities in the North. These communities expanded as a consequence of the various social and cultural changes in the United States. Contributing factors leading to the Harlem Renaissance were the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities, which placed educated and ambitious people in settings where they could motivate and support one another. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of cultural revival for African Americans. During this period, blacks generated a sense of self-pride and identity through creative expression. Though the literary, musical, and artistic innovation was concentrated in Harlem, the passion created there spread across the United States. The art produced during the Harlem Renaissance had various themes. It ranged from the depiction of lavish urban lifestyles to simple rural landscapes; from the lighthearted daily motions of individuals to the weighty themes of slavery and cultural origins in Africa.
During Harlem Renaissance there was an overt racial pride that came to be represented within cultural and creative expression. The New Negro challenged pervading racism and stereotypes through intellect, literature, art, music and theatre to promote racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature served to uplift the race and mold the image of the New Negro. The artists of the Harlem Renaissance presented bold, portraits of African Americans during this period. They created images of blacks that went against stereo types, such as mammies, buck-eyed minstrels, shuffling darkies and watermelon loving pickininnies.
It is easy to generalize traditional African art, but the continent is full of people, and civilizations, each with a unique visual culture. Despite this diversity, there are some unifying artistic themes when considering the visual culture from the continent of Africa. Most African sculptures were usually carved from wood and other organic materials. Masks were also important elements in the art of many cultures in Africa, along with human figures, often highly stylized. Many African American Artists during the Harlem Renaissance were inspired by both the masks and sculptors of traditional African Art.
Alain Locke, prolific African American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts was an avid supporter of the inclusion of African aesthetic within black art.
Locke’s attitude about black advancement was very art oriented; he believed that art was tied intimately into the political and cultural future of the New Negro. Locke believed that art by African Americans should look different from art created by white Americans because black artists should look to Africa for inspiration like the sculptor Richmond Barthé, an African American sculptor known for his many public works, which included the Toussaint L’Ouverture Monument in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Sargent Claude Johnson, an African American, painter, potter, ceramist, printmaker, graphic artist, sculptor, and
carver.
Locke also promoted Aaron Douglas, "Father of African American arts." (Kirshke 125) “His natural talent plus his newly acquired inspiration allowed Douglas to be considered the ‘Father of African American arts.’ That title led him to say, ‘Do not call me the Father of African American Arts, for I am just a son of Africa, and paint for what inspires me.’” (Kirshke 125) Douglas was heavily influenced by the African culture he painted for. Douglas’s engagement with African design brought him to the attention of Locke who pressed for young African American artists to express their African heritage and African American folk culture in their art. “Locke promoted African-American artists, writers, and musicians, encouraging them to look to Africa as an inspiration for their works. He encouraged them to depict African and African-American subjects, and to draw on their history for subject material.” (Harris, 170) In order to further reinforce his ideals about African Art, Locke included images of Traditional African masks and sculptors in his book, The New Negro, a collection of fiction, poetry, art and essays on African and African-American art and literature. The New Negro can be considered a central example of the creative efforts coming out of the flourishing Harlem Renaissance. The book is considered by literary scholars and critics to be the text of the movement. Locke’s philosophy of the New Negro was grounded in the concept of race-building. It’s most important component is overall awareness of the potential black equality; no longer would blacks allow themselves to adjust themselves or comply with unreasonable white requests.
Locke was not alone in his philosophy on traditional African Art and black artists. Albert C. Barnes, was an White American chemist, businessman, art collector, writer, and educator, the founder of the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The majority of the pictures of traditional African Sculptors and masks were provided by the Barnes Foundation. Barnes believed that an African influence within African American Art was inevitable. He believed that Black art was “a great art because it embodied the Negroes’ individual traits and reflects their suffering aspirations and joys.” (Barnes 19) Barnes stated in his essay, “Negro Art and America”, “That there should have developed a distinctively Negro art in America was natural and inevitable. A primitive race transported into an Anglo-Saxon environment and held in subjection to that fundamentally alien influence was bound to undergo the soul-stirring experiences which always find their expression in great art.” (Barnes 19)
European modernists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse had already discovered African Art and used tribal forms and images in their work. If prolific European artists thought that African art was worth imitating, it had to be taken seriously by the white establishments. If anyone had the right to be inspired by traditional African Art it was the African American but not every African American artist found their inspiration in an African past, many of them lived and studied in Europe and was comfortable with the European culture and aesthetic. In Europe they didn’t have to limit themselves to colored only museums and exhibits. Although many African American Artists were inspired by Africa, others didn’t feel entirely connected to Africa. “Prior to World War I, many black painters and sculptors had rarely concerned themselves with African American subject matter.” (Wright 254) Towards the end of the 1920s, black artists began developing unique styles related to black aesthetic traditions of Africa. Meta Warrick Fuller, an African American Artists notable for being the first to produce art that celebrated African themes. One her most popular pieces of art is her sculptor Ethiopia Awakening (1914). This particular piece truly embodies an African aesthetic. “Appearing from a distance like a piece of Egyptian funerary sculpture, it depicts a black woman wrapped like a mummy from the waist down. But her upper torso aspire upward, suggesting rebirth from a long sleep. In the 1920s, as African art became better known in Western art circles, West African cultural models gained importance for black American artists.” (Wright, 255)
Although most Black artists aided in the progression of the New Negro image, there were a handful that succumbed to the stereo types of blacks held by whites. Artist, Palmer Hayden used caricatures and outrageous images of blacks within his work that most African American Artists veered away from. “In The Subway (1930), the white people look pleasant and ordinary, while the major black figure is an unattractive caricature. The skin color of the whites in the painting appears normal for Caucasians, but the black youth's skin color is an overstated char- coal black. Only the head of a black soldier is visible, but he is also a caricature, with exaggerated lips. In another painting, Just Back from Washington (1938), Hayden has a foolish-looking black man having his shoes polished. Hayden depicted this black man in a way that many racist whites would find comfortable: he has a walking cane, gloves, hat, fancy tie and handkerchief, and a big cigar. Like many of the blacks in Hayden's paintings, this man too has thick white lips.” (Wright 256) Hayden received a vast amount of criticism for his depictions of African Americans in his work. Many would say that Hayden chose to portray whites as being far more attractive and deserving of special attention, which was contrary to the believes of other black painters sculptors and their literary counterparts. One can conclude that Hayden defied the purpose of black art during the Harlem Renaissance which was to uplift the race and mold the image of the New Negro.
However, there are art scholars that would argue in defense of Hayden’s work. It is believed that he wasn’t purposely creating a negative portrait of blacks. “When reviewing Hayden's work, it helps to know what leading art scholars have concluded about him. In many respects, they explain, Hayden was not deliberately depicting blacks in a negative light but was simply painting about an era. In short, ‘Hayden saw no reason to refrain from borrowing from the popular images of blacks by whites.’” (Wright 258)
In retrospect, the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that primarily involved African Americans. It relied on a support system of black patrons, black-owned businesses and publications. However, it also depended on the patronage of white Americans who provided various forms of assistance, opening doors which otherwise would have remained closed. Whites with money and white audiences were essential ingredients to the expansion of the black arts movement. During the 1920’s Harlem became a huge manufacture of the arts. Black leaders were eager to form alliances with progressive wealthy whites in order to feed the artistic production line. Patrons came from several different walks of life but the all came with one agenda, they provided financial support and demanded art in a benevolent censorship. Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist and anthropologist called them Negrotarians, this phrase would characterize a motley crew of well-endowed whites. Real estate developer and philanthropist William E. Harmon, was one of many white Americans intrigued by black art in 1920s. The Harmon foundation was established in 1922 by Harmon. The foundation helped African Americans gain recognition for art that otherwise would have remained relatively unknown.
The Harlem Renaissance was more than an artistic movement; it possessed a certain cultural and sociological development. Philosopher, writer and patron of the arts Alaine Locke, believed that art was tied intimately into the political and cultural future of the New NegroBlack artists used art to prove their humanity and demand racial equality. Sculptors and painters greatly contributed to creating the image of the New Negro. Visual artists aimed to gain control over the representation of African Americans. Black artists developed a new repertoire of the black social and cultural image and discarded stereo types such as mammies, Uncle Tom, and minstrels.