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Ethiopia Awakening
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
1921
Bronze
In Ethiopia Awakening, the artist captures the idea of Black America unwrapping its mummied past and stepping into a new, proud identity, a powerful foreshadowing of the Harlem Renaissance and the flowering of a modern Black cultural consciousness. -
Mending Socks
Archibald J. Motley Jr
1924
Oil on canvas In "Mending Socks" the artist paints his grandmother, a woman born into slavery. In the painting she is surrounded by meaningful objects and a tiny portrait of the white woman whose family once enslaved her, this symbolizes her past and her dignity in the present. -
Gamin
Augusta Savage
1929
Painted plaster The artist used his nephew, Ellis Ford, as the model for this piece—offering a tender, dignified portrayal of Black youth in contrast to the degrading stereotypes that have long permeated American culture. -
Blues
Archibald Motley
1929
Oil on Canvas The artist created this scene to show how jazz and nightlife created moments where social divisions faded. Black, White, Caribbean and African people sharing space freely while using stylized forms and strong color contrasts to give form to the energy, rhythm and dignity of Black modern culture. -
The Janitor Who Paints
1930
Palmer Hayden
Oil on canvas
This painting was inspired by one of the artists good friends who like himself worked as a janitor to support himself. Although they were both janitors, they both were also artists that took pride in what they wore and how they presented themselves to the world. -
The Ascent of Ethiopia
Lois Mailou Jones
1932
Oil on canvas In “The Ascent of Ethiopia,” Loïs Mailou Jones tells the story of Black culture rising from its African roots into the creative explosion of the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating heritage, resilience, and artistic awakening. -
Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers
Aaron Douglas
1934
Oil In this mural Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers, Aaron Douglas uses the central saxophone‑wielding figure, radiating sound‑waves, a distant Statue of Liberty and looming industrial towers to celebrate African‑American cultural achievement (especially jazz) while also acknowledging the migration north and the hurdles of labor and industrialization. -
Lift Every Voice and Sing or The Harp
Augusta Savage
1939
Plaster Augusta Savage created the 16‑foot plaster sculpture Lift Every Voice and Sing (also called “The Harp”) for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, but after the fair ended in 1940 and she couldn’t afford to preserve it, the work was destroyed. -
The Judgment Day
Aaron Douglas
1939
Oil on tempered hardboard In this 1939 painting The Judgment Day, Aaron Douglas revisits (and expands) his earlier 1927 illustrations for God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse by James Weldon Johnson, merging African art, European modernism, and Art Deco geometry into an emotionally charged image of the archangel Gabriel blowing a trumpet to call all souls to judgment. -
William H Johnson
1940
Oil on plywood
This painting portrays an elegant couple, dressed to the nines for a glamorous night out. For many Black Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, style was as powerful a statement as skin color, a source of pride. -
Harlem Street Scene with Full Moon
William H. Johnson
1940
Tempera pencil on paper
This painting offers a glimpse of the artists view of a night in Harlem with a full moon. -
Jitterbugs II
William H Johnson
1940
Color screenprint on wood-pulp board
Jitterbugs II is apart of a series of paintings that was created to spotlight jazz music and dancing. -
The Great Migration (Series)
Jacob Lawrence
1941
Casein tempera on hardboard
This image is apart of a series that was created to depict the Great Migration which prompted the Harlem Renaissance. -
Nightlife
Archibald Motley
1943
Oil on canvas Nightlife shows a buzzing Chicago jazz-club scene full of color, movement and stylish figures, celebrating Black urban culture and modern life during the Great Migration era. -
Building more Stately Mansions
Aaron Douglas
1944
Oil The artwork blends stylized, silhouetted figures with towering architectural elements in a muted palette of purples and reds to depict communal labor and industrial construction as part of society‑building.