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A new exhibition coming to The Metropolitan Museum of Art this winter will whisk visitors back in time a century. Titled “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” the exhibit will present 160 works exploring how Black artists portrayed everyday modern life in the new Black cities that took shape in the 1920s-40s in New York City’s Harlem, Chicago’s South Side and nationwide amid the Great Migration.
Opening in February 2024, the show will be the first survey of the subject in New York City since 1987. It will also establish the Harlem Renaissance as the first African-American-led movement of international modern art.
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"The exhibition underscores the essential role of the Harlem Renaissance and its radically new modes of portraying the modern Black subject as central to the development of transatlantic modern art," curator-at-large Denise Murrell said in a press release.
Galleries will explore the cultural philosophy of the movement and dig into the artists’ varied representational styles, ranging from an engagement with African and Egyptian aesthetics to European avant-garde pictorial strategies.
At the core of the exhibition are the artists who depicted the modern Black subject in a radically modern way and refused the prevailing racist stereotypes. Some works will explore "the New Negro era’s fraught approach to social issues including queer identity, colorism and class tensions, and interracial relation," the museum said.
Other galleries will be filled with portraiture and genre scenes that capture all aspects of Black city life in the 1920s-40s as seen in vibrant paintings, sculpture, photography and film projections.
The exhibition underscores the essential role of the Harlem Renaissance and its radically new modes of portraying the modern Black subject as central to the development of transatlantic modern art.
Featured artists include Charles Alston, Miguel Covarrubias, Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Jr., Winold Reiss, Augusta Savage, James Van Der Zee, and Laura Wheeler Waring.
“Through compelling portraits, vibrant city scenes, and dynamic portrayals of nightlife created by leading artists of the time, the exhibition boldly underscores the movement’s pivotal role in shaping the portrayal of the modern Black subject—and indeed the very fabric of early 20th-century modern art,” the Met’s CEO Max Hollein said in a press release.
To create "The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism," the Met will borrow paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the extensive collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), including Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Fisk University Galleries, Hampton University Art Museum, and Howard University Gallery of Art. Other major lenders include the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.
The museum is also undertaking extensive archival research, conservation and restoration treatment, and original photography of important but seldom-seen works of art.