African-American Art and the Political Dissent during the Harlem Renaissance
Val-Jean Belton
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The Harlem Renaissance was lauded as the period in the history of Black American culture that promoted the art of African American arts and ancestry. The four visual artists, MetaWarrick Fuller , Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and Aaron Douglas, whose works left an lasting impression on Black artists were virtually the visual Harlem Renaissance. But their influence should not be limited to the Harlem Renaissance, but instead as defining roles in the broader context of American art. Meta Fuller's art bridged the gap between the Black presence in European art and the gradual acceptance of the Black artists as a whole. She worked hard to broaden the level of visual literacy among the Black community and directed their appreciation to the important forms of creative expression within their own culture. Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, and William H. Johnson continued Fuller's legacy. Each of these artist responded to the founders and Alain Locke with a visual literacy that visually looked at themselves as artists and to the art of Africa for the inspiration needed to create a world class movement during the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem, New York, the place, provided Black Americans the necessary ingredients as writers, jazz and blues musicians, and visual artists to create a Cultural Revolution called the Harlem Renaissance.