Exhibitions at The Research Libraries

Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist

From September 11, 2008 through November 30, 2008
Latimer/Edison Gallery
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801 (directions)

African American Modernist

Aaron Douglas (1899–1979) was considered the foremost visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance. In paintings, murals, and book illustrations, he incorporated elements from music, dance, literature, and politics to produce powerful artistic forms that had a lasting impact on American art history and the nation’s cultural heritage. Working from a politicized concept of personal identity, he combined angular Cubist rhythms and seductive Art Deco dynamism with traditional African and African American imagery to develop a radically new visual vocabulary that evoked both current realities and hopes for a better future. Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist, curated by the Spencer Museum of Art/The University of Kansas, is the first nationally touring retrospective to celebrate his art and legacy. This special traveling exhibition features the four Douglas murals from the Schomburg Center’s Art and Artifacts Division.


New York Times: Black in America, Painted Euphoric and Heroic