Wolfsonian–FIU Celebrates Authors of the Harlem Renaissance
The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
For Freedom: A Biographical Story of the American Negro, 1927, Aaron Douglas (American, 1899–1979), dust jacket illustrator Arthur Huff Fauset (American, 1899–1983), Franklin Publishing and Supply Co., Philadelphia
Silhouettes: Image and Word in the Harlem Renaissance - on view through June 23 - brings together seminal books and periodicals with paintings, prints, and sculpture to offer a glimpse into the African American experience in the first half of the 20th century.
A seminal work from the Wolfsonian collection, The New Negro (1925) helps set the stage for the exhibition by framing the unprecedented migration of African Americans from the rural South to northern cities in the early 20th century. An illustrated collection of writings by poets, novelists, and intellectuals, the book identified the new manners and ways of life that resulted from the Great Migration, captured in paintings, prints, sculpture, photography, theater, and literary works from the 1920s onward.
Illustrated publications, in particular, emerged as a canvas for a new generation of modern artists as well as a way to reach audiences beyond Harlem itself. The exhibition displays covers and interior illustrations from 39 books, as well as more than 60 paintings, prints, photographs, and sculptures. Throughout, it focuses special attention on the work of Aaron Douglas, whose signature silhouetted figures have become a durable visual icon of the Harlem Renaissance.
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The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
Noah Built the Ark, from God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse, 1927, Aaron Douglas, illustrator James Weldon Johnson (American, 1871–1938), The Viking Press, New York City
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The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
Pamphlet page spread, The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations, 1931 Prentisss Taylor (American, 1907–1991), illustrator Langston Hughes (American, 1901–1967), Golden Stair Press, New York City
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The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, 1927, Aaron Douglas, dust jacket illustrator James Weldon Johnson, Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, publisher
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The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
The Weary Blues, 1947 (original publication date, 1926), Miguel Covarrubias (Mexican, 1904–1957), dust jacket illustrator Langston Hughes, Alfred A. Knopf, New York City,
“Silhouettes tells the story of a people,” said Christopher Norwood, a Miami-based collector, gallerist, and founder of Hampton Art Lovers, who curated the exhibition in consultation with Shawn Christian, professor of English at Florida International University, and Wolfsonian staff. “The Harlem Renaissance is the most important and comprehensive art movement in American history, introducing the modern world to free Black thought, culture, and aspiration."
What we know as the Harlem Renaissance was called the 'New Negro' movement in its heyday, from the 1920s to 1940s. Artworks and literature from this movement challenged demeaning stereotypes and called upon Black people to assert their own self-determination, offering complex stories and nuanced portraits of everyone from cultural luminaries to anonymous figures. The reach and perspective of the Harlem Renaissance extended over all parts of the United States and beyond its borders.
“A lot has changed in America since the Harlem Renaissance, however many of the issues addressed are still relevant today,” said Shawn Christian. “The more one immerses oneself in these texts and images, the more it feels like they were created not so long ago.”
