Most of these artists found inspiration in the streets and homes of Harlem. Helen Levitt, who spent her career photographing lively activity in different parts of the city, captured the upper-Manhattan neighborhood, a center of African American culture. In 1941, resident Jacob Lawrence made a series of paintings about the Great Migration—the multi-decade mass exodus of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North that dramatically increased Harlem’s population. The series was a key example of the way that artists reimagined history painting in the modern era. William H. Johnson, another Southern migrant to Harlem who had returned to the neighborhood after working in Europe, created scenes of everyday African American life in Harlem and in the South with flat compositions and vibrant colors. Alice Neel made portraits of the people of nearby Spanish Harlem, a community that had rarely been represented in such a way. The fusion of art and politics defines these artists’ contributions to the traditions of figurative art in the twentieth century.
Collection 1940s–1970s
402
In and Around Harlem
402
In and Around Harlem
- MoMA, Floor 4, 402 The David Geffen Galleries
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Elizabeth Catlett Sharecropper 1952, published 1968–70 -
William H. Johnson Off to War c. 1941 -
William H. Johnson Street Musicians c. 1941 -
William H. Johnson Jitterbugs V c. 1941 -
Jacob Lawrence The World War had caused a great shortage in Northern industry and also citizens of foreign countries were returning home 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence In many of the communities the Negro press was read continually because of its attitude and its encouragement of the movement 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Another of the social causes of the migrants' leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to be found on the streets late at night. They were arrested on the slightest provocation 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Child labor and a lack of education was one of the other reasons for people wishing to leave their homes 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence And people all over the South began to discuss this great movement 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The labor agent who had been sent South by Northern industry was a very familiar person in the Negro counties 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence In every home people who had not gone North met and tried to decide if they should go North or not 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The railroad stations in the South were crowded with people leaving for the North 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The Negro press was also influential in urging the people to leave the South 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence They arrived in great numbers into Chicago, the gateway of the West 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence They also worked in large numbers on the railroad 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The Negro was the largest source of labor to be found after all others had been exhausted 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The migrants arrived in great numbers 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the South. They often went to railroad stations and arrested the Negroes wholesale, which in turn made them miss their train 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Living conditions were better in the North 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Industries attempted to board their labor in quarters that were oftentimes very unhealthy. Labor camps were numerous 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Race riots were very numerous all over the North because of the antagonism that was caused between the Negro and white workers. Many of these riots occurred because the Negro was used as a strike breaker in many of the Northern industries 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence One of the largest race riots occurred in East St. Louis 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence One of the main forms of social and recreational activities in which the migrants indulged occurred in the church 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Among one of the last groups to leave the South was the Negro professional who was forced to follow his clientele to make a living 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence In the North the Negro had better educational facilities 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The trains were packed continually with migrants 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence And the migrants kept coming 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence They did not always leave because they were promised work in the North. Many of them left because of Southern conditions, one of them being great floods that ruined the crops, and therefore they were unable to make a living where they were 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence They were very poor 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with people leaving that special guards had to be called in to keep order 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Among the social conditions that existed which was partly the cause of the migration was the injustice done to the Negroes in the courts 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence Although the Negro was used to lynching, he found this an opportune time for him to leave where one had occurred 1940-41 -
Jacob Lawrence The migration gained in momentum 1940-41 -
Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb Levitt, James Agee In the Street 1952 -
Alice Neel Georgie Arce 1953 -
José Clemente Orozco Self-Portrait 1940 -
Ben Shahn Portrait of Myself When Young 1943
Artists
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Helen Levitt
American, 1913–200940 exhibitions, 82 works online -
Jacob Lawrence
American, 1917–200020 exhibitions, 40 works online -
Alice Neel
American, 1900–19845 exhibitions, 6 works online -
Janice Loeb Levitt
American, 1913–19961 exhibition, 2 works online -
James Agee
American, 1909–19551 exhibition, 2 works online
Installation images
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