This piece is called Moon over Harlem. It is based on the riots of 1943, when a fight broke out among a white police officer, a black woman and a black soldier and lead into an even bigger riot with deaths and injuries. Johnson chose to portray the policemen as black men, although in the real situation they were white. Johnson also shows liquor bottles thrown on the ground in order to signify that the people of Harlem where destroying themselves.
By looking at this piece, the Harlem Renaissance theme of anger at racism comes up because they are being beaten down. But after reading about what Johnson implied by this piece, I think that desire to reconstruct the meaning of "negro" shows up too. Since he is showing them drinking and brutalizing themselves through this, he is showing the importance to take a stand and change this and "reconstruct the meaning of the negro".
I chose this piece because I think it's interesting that Johnson added the liquor bottles subtly around and yet they signify so much. I didn't notice the significance of them until reading on various websites that Johnson may in fact be suggesting that they were oppressing themselves and that brings up the Harlem Renaissance theme of desire to reconstruct the meaning of "negro" which at first I wouldn't have thought of.
I really like this image, although brutal and sad, I think that the idea of it is really interesting because of the many levels of thought Johnson put into it. I also find it interesting that Johnson chose to portray the white police officers as African American.
Hey phoebe! i hope that your feeling better! come back to school, anyways, i love how you explain the background to this art piece in the first paragraph it helps get a better understanding for the art itself and see deeping into the meaning of what the artist wanted us to see. GREAT JOB. swag.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of the signifigance of Johnson portraying the policemen as black was very interesting. The idea of self oppression is intriguing and I had never thought that this painting could be connected with "reconstructing the meaning of negro". Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like your explanation of "desire to reconstruct the meaning of Negro" because I hadn't thought if that way before. Good job!
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