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   from the issue of February 23, 2006

     
 
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 AARON DOUGLAS

A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas has been described as "the father of African-American art."


Douglas
 
Douglas

 
A 1922 NU graduate, Douglas was the first African-American artist to explore modernism and to reflect African art in his paintings, murals and illustrations. He was the leading visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance, the creative cultural burst of African-American poetry, prose, art, theater, dance and music in New York City in the 1920s. His illustrations and dust jackets from that period stand out as powerful and distinctive contributions to the art of the book.
 
Courtesy photo Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
 Courtesy photo Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.


In 1937, Douglas founded Fisk University's art department, which he chaired until retiring in 1966.

One of Douglas's paintings, "Window Cleaning," (at right) is in the collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. The painting was exhibited in the Nebraska Art Association invitational in 1936 and was acquired from the artist at that time.

Born in Topeka, Kan., in 1898, Douglas died in Nashville, Tenn., in 1979.


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