Art During The Harlem Renaissance

The definition of Renaissance is an period where the forms and treatments of art is being used. There was a famous Renaissance that occurred in Europe during the 14th century that extended to the 17th century allowing a transition from the medieval to the modern world. In addition, there was a renaissance that emerged in the United States from the 1920s (around the end of World War I) to the mid-1930s. This Renaissance occurred in Harlem, New York. It was known as the “New Negro Movement” before later adopting the name the Harlem Renaissance. During this period there was an outburst of creative activity from African Americans that occurred throughout the different fields of art. Many African Americans such as Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, and Zora Neale Hurston, to name a few, had an impact on modern day arts during the Harlem Renaissance.

William H. Johnson was one artist that made an impact during the Harlem Renaissance. He was a painter born March 18, 1901 in Florence, SC and died in 1970. Johnson was born to a poor African …show more content…
The riots were a result of a white American police officer shooting and wounding an African American soldier that tried to intervene in the arrest of an African American woman that was disturbing the peace. The riots left several wounded, killed, and several businesses damaged. In this image there is two African American males being arrested in the corner of the picture that depicts rioters being arrested by white police officers. However, Johnson painted them as black men. Also in this picture, the ground is littered with liquor bottles. In addition, there is an African American female who is turned upside down by three officers that symbolizes or depicts the victim from the Riot of 1943, From observing the picture, you get the idea as if Johnson wanted show that the people of Harlem were corrupting themselves through their own actions and