Artist: Aaron Douglas,
Aspects of the Negro Life Series
Medium: Mural at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYC, NY (formerly New York Public Library’s 135th Street branch)
Date: c. 1934
Images
Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on Beach
Artist: Salvador Dalí
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1938
Mulheres Facetadas
Artist: Emiliano Di Cavalcanti
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1968
The Wedding
Artist: Jacob Lawrence
Medium: egg tempera on hardboard
Date: c. 1948
Jacob Lawrence once wrote, “For me, the most important function of art is observation.” In The Wedding, Lawrence simultaneously depicts the solemnity and the joy of the marriage ceremony. Although the preacher’s face is only partially defined, he appears to look down with great seriousness at the couple as they contemplate their vows. The large, colorful urns overflowing with brilliant flowers signify the happiness of the scene and may also represent the future prosperity of this union.
Mulher com Gato
Artist: Emiliano Di Cavalcanti
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1953
Harriet Tubman Mural
Artist: Aaron Douglas
Medium: Mural at Bennett College for Women, Greensboro, North Carolina
Date: c. 1931
Among Douglas’s most important works are large‐scale murals. Using a modernist language of geometric and abstract forms, he depicted slavery, emancipation, the power of education, and the contributions of African Americans to American culture and the nation’s economy. Allegorical and epic, the narratives draw on Egyptian wall painting and Ivory Coast sculpture as well as modern architecture, jazz, and dance. Continue reading Harriet Tubman Mural
Jeune Fille Devant un Miroir
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1932
Persistence of Memory
Artist: Salvador Dalí
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1931
Promenade
Artist: Norman Lewis
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1961
Moon Masque
Artist: Lois Mailou Jones
Medium: collage and oil on canvas
Date: c. 1971
Moon Masque (1971) includes a Kwela mask from Zaire framed by textile patterns that divide the canvas in three horizontal bands, an arrangement that also reflects West African woven strip cloths. Black, ochre and red organize the canvas in series of complex rhythms. The Haitian style, which retains a narrative sense and a realistic treatment of the figures is furthered into bolder abstraction. The narrative is gone and replaced by the juxtaposition of symbolic motifs, underlying the variety of African cultures as well as their proximity and unity, all elements of the pan-African discourse.
excerpt by Dr. Catherine Bernard (2002 Anyone Can Fly Foundation Professional Scholars Grant recipient)
Camden Civil Rights Project 