Book

Douglas, Aaron, artist.

Aaron Douglas : African American modernist / edited by Susan Earle ; with essays and contributions by Renée Ater, Kinshasha Holman Conwill, David C. Driskell, Susan Earle, Robert E. Hemenway, Amy Helene Kirschke, Stephanie Fox Knappe, Richard J. Powell, Cheryl R. Ragar.

New Haven : Yale University Press ; Lawrence : in association with Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 2007.

©2007

xvii, 253 pages : illustrations (some color), facsimiles, plan, portraits (some color) ; 28 cm

"In paintings, murals, and book illustrations, Aaron Douglas (1899-1979) produced the most powerful visual legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, prompting the philosopher and writer Alain Locke to dub him the "father of Black American art." Douglas's role, as well as that of the Harlem Renaissance in general, in the evolution of American modernism deserves close scholarly attention - attention it finally receives in this illustrated book on his life and work. Its authors argue that Douglas's work opened doors for African American artists in Harlem and beyond, and that it invited a dialogue with modernism that put African American life, labor, and freedom, along with African traditions and motifs, at its center. New information emerges from these pages, reflecting the rich interchange between the visual arts, music, dance, literature, and politics that shaped Douglas's work and also defined the Harlem Renaissance."--Jacket.

Douglas, Aaron -- Exhibitions.

African American artists -- Exhibitions.

Harlem Renaissance -- Pictorial works.

African American arts -- Pictorial works.

Exhibition catalogs.

Earle, Susan Elizabeth, editor, contributor.

Ater, Renée, contributor.

Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, host institution.

Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, Tenn.), host institution.

Smithsonian American Art Museum, host institution.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, host institution.

Catalog of an exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, September 8-December 2, 2007; Frist Center for Visual Arts, Nashville, January 18-April 13, 2008; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., May 9-August 3, 2008; Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, August 30-November 30, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-237) and index.

Robert E. Hemenway -- Saralyn Reece Hardy and Victor D. Simmons -- Kinshasha Holman Conwill -- Harlem, modernism, and beyond: Aaron Douglas and his role in art/history / Susan Earle -- The Aaron Douglas effect / Richard J. Powell -- Aaron Douglas: influences and impacts of the early years / Cheryl R. Ragar -- Some observations on Aaron Douglas as tastemaker in the renaissance movement / David C. Driskell -- Creating a "usable past" and a "future perfect society": Aaron Douglas's murals for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition / Renée Ater -- The fisk murals revealed: memories of Africa, hope for the future / Amy Helene Kirschke -- Stephanie Fox Knappe.

Table of contents

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description

2007008045

9780300135923

0300135920

9780300121803

0300121806

85623493

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221463

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741.6092 Douglas