The Pioneers

The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was rooted in earlier achievements of artists of the Harlem Renaissance. These artists found a new source of inspiration in their African ancestral heritage and imbued their work with their experience as Blacks in America. The works of pioneers like Aaron Douglas, Hale Woodruff, and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller formed the genesis of a style and aesthetic that influenced the development of African American art throughout the 20th century. By the 1950s and early 1960s, masters such as John Biggers, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Loïs Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, and Charles White (all featured in this exhibition) were fully exploring the African American experience and its rich African heritage. Their impressive body of work exerted a tremendous influence on the artists of the Black Arts Movement.