Harlem Renaissance
1919-1948
The Artists:
Aaron Douglas (1899-1979)
Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)
Aaron Douglas
1. Douglas was born in Kansas in 1898.
2. Douglas earned his BA in art from the University of
Nebraska.
3. Douglas taught art in Kansas City and then moved to
New York City to earn his MA from Columbia
University.
4. Winold Reiss, an illustrator from Germany, encouraged
Douglas to focus on African themes.
5. Alain Locke called Douglas the "Pioneering
Africanist."
6. He designed and illustrated Alain Locke's "The New
Negro" and contributed regularly to such widely read
journals as the NAACP's THE CRISIS and The Urban
League's OPPORTUNITY.
7. In 1928, Douglas became the first president of the
Harlem Artists Guild, which was successful in helping
African American artists obtain projects under the
Works Progress Administration.
8. In 1940, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he
founded the Art Department at Fisk University and
taught for 29 years.
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Source: PBS
Aaron Douglas’s Painting
1. Describe the painting.
2. What title would you give this painting?
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Lois Mailou Jones
1. Lois was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on
November 3, 1905.
2. Spending her time in Martha’s Vineyard, she loved
seeing the colors of island.
3. In 1927, she graduated from the School of the
Museum of Fine Arts of Boston.
4. She designed for F.A. Foster in Boston and
Schumacher Company in New York.
5. She saw one of her designs in a shop in Connecticut.
The owner was surprised to see her and stated,” How
could you have done that? You're a colored girl."
6. Jones realized that she needed to show work that
reflected her.
7. She applied for a teaching job in Boston but she was
not accepted. One person told her “go help your people”
down south. She eventually found a teaching position at
Howard University.
8. She studied art in Paris and found so much freedom.
She found racism in the US. Her friends would apply
for art awards on her behalf.
Source:
Lois Mailou
Jones.com
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Lois Mailou Jones’ Painting
3. Describe the painting.
4. What title would you give this painting?
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Jacob Lawrence
1. Jacob Lawrence was born on September 7, 1917 in
Atlantic City, New Jersey.
2. He was one of the first artists to train in Harlem.
3. He appreciated the art work of Diego Rivera, Jose
Clemente Orozco, Vincent Van Gogh, and Francisco
Jose de Goya.
4. Lawrence’s themes covered the Civil War, Slavery, and
Civil Rights.
5. He especially loved to paint scenes from Harlem.
6. While establishing his art studio in Harlem, he met
Alain Locke, Langston Hughes and Aaron Douglas.
7. From 1940 to 1941, he painted a series of paintings
depicting the Great Migration.
8. In 1946, he was invited to teach at Black Mountain
College in North Carolina. At the college, Josef Albers
would influence Lawrence in new ways of painting.
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http://whitney.org/www/j
acoblawrence/
Jacob Lawrence’s Painting
5. Describe the painting.
6. What title would you give this painting?
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Art Analysis
1. Guess the painter. (Write the name below the
painting).
2. Describe each painting. (Write your description
around the around painting).
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