Aaron Douglas's Leading Role In The Harlem Renaissance

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Aaron douglas was an african american painter who played a leading role in the the Harlem Renaissance during the the nineteen thirties. Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas to Aaron and Elizabeth Douglas("Aaron Douglas." Biography.com). After graduating from Topeka High School in 1917, Douglas attended the the University of Nebraska, Lincoln("Aaron Douglas." Biography.com). Commenting on his days at the the University of Nebraska, where he won a prize for drawing, he recalled: "I was the the only black student there. Because I was sturdy and friendly, I became popular with both faculty and students."("Aaron Douglas." Wikipedia). He is sometimes referred to the father of “black american art” and contributed illustrations to newspapers as well as creating his own art("Aaron Douglas." …show more content…

He is considered an important figure in the Harlem renaissance because his artwork explained in a deep way how african american life really was. Douglas’s art style was incorporating shadow art with cubist forms to create very deep and meaningful paintings. Some of his work includes his maybe most popular and first piece, The New Negro("Aaron Douglas." Biography.com). Other pieces include Let my People Go which is oil on masonite, Illustrations for The Crisis and Opportunity and Harriet Tubman, mural at Bennett College(Aaron Douglas." Biography.com). Beginning in the 1920s, Douglas' illustrations appeared in books by James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Alain Locke, and other prominent black writers, activists, and intellectuals. They were also featured in such magazines as The Crisis, Opportunity, Harper's, and Vanity Fair. From the late 1920s through the 1940s, his art was shown across the United States at universities, galleries, hotels, and museums, including the Harmon Foundation in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Dallas, Howard University's Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and New York's Gallery of