Visit "The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism" at The Met

July 23, 2024
By: Zach Lee

Courtesy The Met Photo by Anna-Marie Kellen | Pictured: Romare Bearden's The Block (1971)

In its first African American-led presentation of internationally-renown modern art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened the doors to its newest exhibition, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Approaching its final week in installation, this showcase provides a wonderful insight into the cultural and socio-economic philosophies that molded the New Negro Movement of art and literature. The Met's Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large, Denise Murrell, states that "this wide-ranging exhibition ... establishes the New Negro cohort of African American artists and their allies - now known as the Harlem Renaissance - at the vanguard of the portrayal of modern Black life and culture in Harlem and other new Black cities nationwide at the time of rapid expansion in the first decades of the Great Migration."

Murrell is the primary facilitator and curator of The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism exhibition. She, in collaboration with an advisory panel of leading scholars, put together not only the visual aspects of the showcase, but provide an academic catalog of featured essays "that explore how the flow of ideas through Black artistic communities on both sides of the Atlantic contributed to international conversations around art, race, and identity while helping to define our notion of modernism." This collection of essays has been published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with distribution by Yale University Press.

Courtesy The Met Photo by Anna-Marie Kellen | Pictured: Debate and Synthesis: African and Western Aesthetics Section of the Showcase

But What is the New Negro Movement?

The New Negro Movement, also known as the Harlem Renaissance, was a cultural development in the 1920s and 1930s in Harlem, New York. It encouraged artists to explore and celebrate black culture and identity, thus outputting excellent pieces of realism, modernism, African art, and highlights of antiquity. The New Negro Movement was distinguished by a revamped love for African American culture, music, literature, and art, and art viewers recognized a resurgence in the focus of Black heritage and identity within the works of the Harlem Renaissance.

Jacob Lawrence's Pool Parlor (1942) was my personal favorite in the gallery. A display of watercolor and gouache on paper, this piece highlights the social life of Black men during the Harlem Renaissance period. What stuck out to me about this piece was its unique use of light and shadows. On top of this, the cubist approach to showcasing a busy environment is beautifully portrayed by the various vertical lines of the lamp pendant and edges of the billiards table. The depth of the work draws in the viewer eye - leading one from one pool ball to the next, one billiards table to the next, and following the narrow walkway to the back of the room, featuring a bench of spectators. Lawrence's Pool Party was a prizewinner in the 1942 "Artists for Victory" competition, in which The Met acquired the piece.

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism exhibition closes on July 28, 2024, at The Met Fifth Avenue location. The showcase is featured on The Met's website and on the Museum's social media.