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The Harlem Renaissance Was Bigger Than Harlem

History

Sometimes it’s the sleepers that stay with you. In “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” a sprawling exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was a watercolor still life by Aaron Douglas. Born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1899, Douglas may be the most recognizable Black artist of the 1920s and ’30s. His appealing blend of Art Deco and African American affirmation enlivened books, magazines, and public spaces in his heyday, and paintings such as his grand Works Progress Administration cycle, Aspects of Negro Life, at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library (now part of the Schomburg Center), have kept him visible ever since.

The Atlantic     Jun 14, 2024