African-American Paintings, Photos, Sculptures and Literary Works: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) Celebrates the Art Movement Born of the Great Migration of Millions of Black People from the South to the North and West of the United States in the first half of the 20th century.
Starting next February, one of the world’s most prestigious museums will showcase 160 works of modern art from historic black universities, art centers and foundations, the Met announced on Tuesday evening for this “groundbreaking” exhibition. titled The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism.
It is a comprehensive overview of the first international modern art movement founded by African-American artists, particularly to depict “modern daily life in new black neighborhoods like Harlem in New York and the South Side in Chicago in the 1900s. 1920-1940,” according to a statement from the Met. The interwar period in the United States marks the first decades of the Great African-American Migration (spanning from 1910 to 1970 according to historians) which saw some six million people leave still subjugated Southern states to racial segregation to northern, midwestern, and western metropolises that are supposed to offer freedom, equality, and better living conditions.
“Through portraits, scenes of urban and nightlife, by major artists of the time, this exhibition highlights the central role of the Harlem Renaissance movement in shaping the modern black subject and even early modern art. of the 20th century,” Met CEO Max Hollein said in a statement. Featured artists include Charles Alston, Miguel Covarrubias, Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, William Henry Johnson, Archibald Motley, Jr., Winold Reiss, Augusta Savage, James Van Der Zee and Laura Wheeler Waring.
Part of the exhibition will compare paintings by African-American artists who spent time in Europe with portraits of African people by European artists such as Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Germaine Casse, Kees Van Dongen, Jacob Epstein and Ronald Moody.