"Do not call me the Father of African American Arts, for I am just a son of Africa, and paint for what inspires me."- Aaron Douglas
Artistic inspirations of the Negro man:
As the negro man began moving to the north to escape from the bland non negro life of the south, the scene of freedom and adventure inspired many black men to describe their evolving culture through the means of artistic expression. They were inspired by negritude, and the New Negro concept, which gave them a powerful ever growing sense of the Negro conciseness. The main themes of the art of the time include the preserving and exposing of African American culture, many of the artwork of the time depicted the lives of many African Americans during the time, which means it portrays the struggles and beauty of the Negro society in Harlem, but instead of just showing black culture what was ultimately seen from their art was. the progression of the black culture from a visual, black perspective, and many art from the time also depicts the dark cruel past of the negro man before their blossoming, such as Chain Gang
Artistic inspirations of the Negro man:
As the negro man began moving to the north to escape from the bland non negro life of the south, the scene of freedom and adventure inspired many black men to describe their evolving culture through the means of artistic expression. They were inspired by negritude, and the New Negro concept, which gave them a powerful ever growing sense of the Negro conciseness. The main themes of the art of the time include the preserving and exposing of African American culture, many of the artwork of the time depicted the lives of many African Americans during the time, which means it portrays the struggles and beauty of the Negro society in Harlem, but instead of just showing black culture what was ultimately seen from their art was. the progression of the black culture from a visual, black perspective, and many art from the time also depicts the dark cruel past of the negro man before their blossoming, such as Chain Gang
“Our problem is to conceive, develop, and establish an art era. Not white art painting black. Let’s bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let’s sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let’s do the impossible. Let’s create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic.”- Aaron Douglas
William H. Johnson, “Chain Gang”