This exhibition is made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art; the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor; and the Henry Luce Foundation. This audio guide highlights selected works in Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist. He lived in a predominantly white neighborhood, and attended majority white primary and secondary schools. Motley spent the majority of his life in Chicago, where he was a contemporary of fellow Chicago artists Eldzier Cortor and Gus Nall. Consequently, many black artists felt a moral obligation to create works that would perpetuate a positive representation of black people. Du Bois and Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Locke and believed that art could help to end racial prejudice. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois © Valerie Gerrard Browne, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (b. The full text of the article is here →. While Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton, and Reginald Marsh became much more famous than Motley for their American scenes, he also developed and elucidated his own archetypes of place and people in this country, albeit unapologetically based on African American subject matter. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Mary Huff Motley and Archibald John Motley Senior. The long and violent Chicago race riot of 1919, though it postdated his article, likely strengthened his convictions. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. American Artist, Looted, (October 2, 2015—January 17, 2016). 1948 Photograph by Bill Jacobson, Installation view of Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist (October 2, 2015—January 17, 2016). Painting during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, Motley infused his genre scenes with the rhythms of jazz and the boisterousness of city life, and his … Archibald John Motley, Jr. (1891-1981), was born in New Orleans and lived and worked in the first half of the 20th century in a predominately white neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest side, a few miles from the city’s growing black community known as “Bronzeville.” (74.3 × 91.8 cm). On view, A 30-second online art project: Archibald John Motley, Jr. (October 7, 1891 – January 16, 1981), was an American visual artist. He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1910s, graduating in 1918. He first came to prominence in the 1920s during the early days of the Harlem Renaissance—the cultural flowering of African American art, music, and literature that extended beyond the New York neighborhood of its name to other cities, notably Chicago, where Motley spent most of his life. The installation at the Whitney Museum is overseen by Carter E. Foster, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawing. Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist is organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Archibald Motley, in full Archibald John Motley, Jr., (born October 7, 1891, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—died January 16, 1981, Chicago, Illinois), American painter identified with the Harlem Renaissance and probably best known for his depictions of black social life and jazz culture in vibrant city scenes. Oil on canvas, 23.625 × 28.875 in. Beginning in 1935, during the Great Depression, Motley’s work was subsidized by the Works Progress Administration of the U.S. government. Oil on canvas, 33 × 40 1/2 in. © Valerie Gerrard Browne, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (1891–1981), Hot Rhythm, 1961. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. (91.4 × 106.7 cm). His father found steady work on the Michigan Central Railroad as a Pullman porter. 1 Consisting of forty-two works created between 1919 and 1961, the exhibition and richly illustrated catalogue highlight the Harlem Renaissance artist’s vividly colored portraits, street scenes, … Archibald Motley, in full Archibald John Motley, Jr., (born October 7, 1891, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—died January 16, 1981, Chicago, Illinois), American painter identified with the Harlem Renaissance and probably best known for his depictions of black social life and jazz culture in vibrant city scenes. "—HyperallergicWatch: Interview with Curator Richard J. Powell—Charlie Rose, "Archibald Motley’s pictures at the Whitney Museum are a revelation"—Apollo, "A Lesser-Known Modernism Inspired by African-American Culture"—The New York Times, "Archibald Motley, The Painter Who Captured Black America in the Jazz Age and Beyond"—The Daily Beast, "Some of the best prewar American modern art"—The Wall Street Journal, "[Motley's] discomfiting dreamscapes may make you smile or squirm, but they do not belong in obscurity. Curators Richard J. Powell, Carter Foster, and others provide additional commentary. He also participated in “The Twenty-fifth Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity” (1921), the first of many Art Institute of Chicago group exhibitions he participated in. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! Photograph by Bill Jacobson. In those paintings he was certainly equating lighter skin tone with privilege. Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Oil on canvas, 38 × 30 1/4 in. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. His training there was academic, rigorously focused on the human figure, and steeped in European tradition. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. BlackPast.org - Biography of Archibald J. Motley Jr. Whitney Museum of American Art - Biography of Archibald Motley, African American Registry - Biography of Archibald Motley. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. This is a part of the Wikipedia article used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). (79.7 × 75.6 cm). Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois © Valerie Gerrard Browne, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (b. Upon graduating from the Art Institute in 1918, Motley took odd jobs to support himself while he made art. Archibald J. Motley Jr. Photo from the collection of Valerie Gerrard Browne and Dr. Mara Motley via the Chicago History Museum. As the work on view in Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist eloquently attests, Motley rightly holds a place among the great American modernists. Unlike many other Harlem Renaissance artists, Archibald Motley, Jr., never lived in Harlem. Motley was born in New Orleans, but his family moved to Chicago when he was quite young, and he later became one of the first black artists to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. © Valerie Gerrard Browne, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (1891–1981), Black Belt, 1934. His use of color and notable fixation on skin-tone, demonstrated his artistic portrayal of blackness as being multidimensional. Archibald J. Motley Jr. Photo from the collection of Valerie Gerrard Browne and Dr. Mara Motley via the Chicago History Museum. 1891–1981), Self-Portrait (Myself at Work), 1933. He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1910s, graduating in 1918. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois © Valerie Gerrard Browne, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (1891–1981), Mulatress with Figurine and Dutch Seascape, c. 1920. "—The Financial Times, "A Blues Aesthetic at the Whitney"—New York Press, "The retrospective revealed the range of Motley’s work, including his early realistic portraits, vivid female nudes and portrayals of performers and cafes, late paintings of Mexico, and satirical scenes.”—Art in America, Archibald John Motley, Jr. 1891–1981), Tongues (Holy Rollers), 1929. Oil on canvas, 40 × 48.375 in. In the late 1930s Motley began frequenting the centre of African American life in Chicago, the Bronzeville neighbourhood on the South Side, also called the “Black Belt.” The bustling cultural life he found there inspired numerous multifigure paintings of lively jazz and cabaret nightclubs and dance halls. As Motley’s human figures became more abstract, his use of colour exploded into high-contrast displays of bright pinks, yellows, and reds against blacks and dark blues, especially in his night scenes, which became a favourite motif. (The Harmon Foundation was established in 1922 by white real-estate developer William E. Harmon and was one of the first to recognize African American achievements, particularly in the arts and in the work emerging from the Harlem Renaissance movement.)