Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance - Softcover

Powell, Richard J.; Bailey, David A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520212681 ISBN 13: 9780520212688

Publisher: University of California Press, 1997

Synopsis

Harlem has captivated the imagination of writers, artists, intellectuals, and politicians around the world since the early decades of this century. Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance examines the cultural reawakening of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s as a key moment in twentieth-century art history, one that transcended regional and racial boundaries. Published to coincide with the exhibition that opens in England and travels to the United States, this catalog reflects the Harlem Renaissance's impressive range of art forms—literature, music, dance, theater, painting, sculpture, photography, film, and graphic design. The participants included not only artists based in New York, but also those from other parts of the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Richard J. Powell and David A. Bailey present selected works that focus on six themes: Representing "The New Negro;" Another Modernism; Blues, Jazz, and the Performative Paradigm; The Cult of the Primitive; Africa: Inheritance and Seizure; and Jacob Lawrence's Toussaint L'Ouverture series. The visual arts from 1919 to 1938 included in the book suggest the extraordinary vibrancy of the time when Harlem was a metaphor for modernity. In spite of the importance of the Harlem Renaissance to early twentieth-century American culture and to the artistic climate of "Jazz Age" Paris and Weimar Berlin, few art exhibitions have been devoted exclusively to the subject. Rhapsodies in Black will be welcomed for its unique presentation of this creative time.

About this title

About the Author

Richard J. Powell is Professor and Chair of Art History at Duke University. David A. Bailey is Director of the African and Asian Artists' Archive, University of East London.

From Kirkus Reviews

A handsomely illustrated and provocative investigation of the accomplishments of black American artists, including actors, singers, painters, photographers, and sculptors, during the 1920s and '30s. While the book is meant to accompany an exhibit that has opened in London and will travel to the US, Powell (Art History/Duke Univ.) and Bailey (director of the African and Asian Artists' Archive/Univ. of East London) have produced something more than a catalog: The essays collected here are ambitious and decidedly controversial, and favor very focused inquiries (on black theater, on Josephine Baker's impact on the black image in white media, and on Paul Robeson's struggles to define what it meant to be a black artist) rather than chronological summaries. Those looking for an overview of the Harlem Renaissance will not find it here. But the reader will find some interesting ruminations on the origins and nature of a distinctly African-American art and some stunning work, including vibrant street scenes by Archibald Motley and Edward Burra, a portfolio of crisp, vibrant photographs of Harlem by James VanDerZee, and the vigorous, folk-influenced paintings of Jacob Lawrence. (150 color plates, 100 b&w illustrations) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0520212681
• ISBN 13: 9780520212688
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192