Surrealist Art/Poetry
Surrealism Book slideshow
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Harlem Renaissance Mash-up
During World War I, there was a mass migration of African Americans leaving their lives in the south to start fresh up north, where there were better opportunities. This painting, The Great Migration, by Jacob Lawrence shows viewers that numerous African-American men, women, and children were in a hurry to head toward cities that would offer them freedom from the Jim Crow laws of the south. The main reasons that they were all leaving is because is the economic opportunity and social equality in the north. The reason Chicago, New York, and St. Louis are the three cities in the painting are because those are the main places that a lot of the African-Americans were choosing to migrate too. In the painting you can see how all the people in the lines are dressed in warm clothing with hats and beanies. This is because it is cold in the north and it shows how willing they were to leave the nice warm weather behind and live in the cold in the north because of how much they valued their freedom more than their comfort. They also have a lot of things with them because they are going to the north permanently so they basically have everything with them. Many people left behind everything they knew including family members and friends. This painting is important in a time like the harlem renaissance because it shows African-Americans together rather than holding each other back.
The painting, Slavery Through Reconstruction, by Aaron Douglas, illustrates the liberation of African American slaves. If you view the painting from left to right, it is a visual timeline of how things have changed since the emancipation. The men on the left, painted in white, are on horseback and appear to be wearing what a Klu Klux Klan member would be wearing. As slave owners, they are watching over their slaves. Douglas makes their position physically higher than the workers in order to show the power they had over them. As you look towards the right, there are fewer workers and more people celebrating. In the middle, a man holds a candle, illuminating turning point. That is the turning point because he is the one who spoke up to ignite the liberation and, on the right half, the people appear to be dancing and not working. This indicates there was a liberation. We also see that the cotton plants get smaller because they are no longer forced to take care of them. Aaron Douglas has shown how the lives of African Americans had improved.
My partner and I thought both paintings had a similar message and shows how the african americans life changed. From the first painting we kept the turning point where it shows one person speaking up from the others and pointing the way. And then we added the part where they are free, from the second painting, and going there own ways.
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