Archibald John Motley Jr

“They're not all the same color, they're not all black, they're not all, as they used to say years ago, high yellow, they're not all brown. I try to give each one of them character as individuals. And that's hard to do when you have so many figures to do, putting them all together and still have them have their characteristics” (Motley 1978)

http://www.frenchcreoles.com/CreoleCulture/famouscreoles/johnaudubon/archibald%20motley%202010.html

This piece called Nightlife, shows the inside of club in the neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago, often called the Black Belt. It shows African Americans dancing, playing music and serving drinks. Motley uses simple shapes with emphasized lines in order to give it movement and uses different tones and colors for movement, a mood of jazz and in order to portray the different tones of African American skin. Motley felt strongly that not all African Americans had the same skin tone so he worked with different shades in order to portray different tones and colors of people.


This piece reflects the Harlem Renaissance themes of pride because at first glance you see the joy and liveliness of all the people. It also explores the Harlem Renaissance theme of desire to reconstruct the meaning of "negro" because in this piece it is showing African Americans doing all jobs. At a lot of clubs, African Americans would play music and serve drinks for white people, but in this case they are occupying everything. 


I chose it because I think it is an interesting piece because of all the tones of color in it, then after reading about how Jones used skin color and identity I became even more fascinated by it. Along with that, I think it's interesting that there isn't really a specific image in the center, it's sort of just a cluster of people and colors. I like this technique because it sort of gives the piece an excited, busy feel, which is exactly the mood of a club. 


I really like this piece because not only is it a great example of Harlem Renaissance art, it explores different artistic techniques and is beautiful to look at as well.

http://americangallery.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/archibald-motley-jr-1891-1981/