by Lorien Faulkner on April 12, 2009

African American Art, Harlem Renaissance, OKCMOA, Oklahoma City Museum of Art

Explore African American art from the early 20th century in the final week of Harlem Renaissance at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  The exhibit includes more than 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs as well as works from OKC African American artists during the 1920s and ‘30s.  This exhibit is presented exclusively by OKCMOA, so don’t miss your opportunity to view art from this unique period in Oklahoma City’s history.

From OKCMOA’s press release:

Explore the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance with a one-of-a-kind exhibition held only at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, February 5 through April 19, 2009. Organized by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Harlem Renaissance will include more than 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs by artists such as Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Malvin Gray Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald J. Motley Jr., James VanDerZee, and others. From the “vogue” of Harlem in the twenties to the Great Depression in the thirties, artists created innovative works that expressed the uniqueness of their experiences as African American artists, while participating in larger developments in American art.

Harlem Renaissance marks the first exhibition of African American art at the Museum in more than 20 years. Organized thematically, Harlem Renaissance will explore a number of subjects, including Harlem as a literary center, portraiture and the “New Negro,” life in Paris and abroad, the influence of European modernism and African art, as well as images related to daily life, African American history, and the South. The exhibition also will examine the idea of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance as a later artistic subject, through works by Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold.  Highlights include Aaron Douglas’s The Creation (1927), Palmer Hayden’s Nous Quatre à Paris (We Four in Paris) (ca. 1930), Archibald J. Motley Jr.’s Jockey Club (1929), and Faith Ringgold’s Jo Baker’s Bananas (1997).

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