instructional resources: journeys through art: tracing the great migration in three american...

National Art Education Association

Instructional Resources: Journeys through Art: Tracing the Great Migration in ThreeAmerican PaintingsAuthor(s): Jamie W. JohnsonSource: Art Education, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan., 2002), pp. 25-31Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3194008 .

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INSTRUCTIONAL R E S 0 U R C E S

JOUtRNEYS THROUGH ART:

TRACING THE GREAT MIGRATION

IN THREE AMERICAN PAINTINGS

Horace Pippin, American, 1888-1946, Cabin in the Cotton, mid 1930s. Oil on panel, 18 inches by 33 inches. In memoriam: Frances W. Picks from her children Thomas F. Pick and Mary P. Hines, 1990.417, ? The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved.

JANUARY 2002 / ART EDUCATION



JOIURNEYS THROUGH ART:

TRACING THE GREAT MIGRATION

IN THREE AMERICAN PAINTINGS A S S

For Students in Grades 4-6

"Ifyou're any kind of artist, you make a miraculous journey and you come back and make some statements in shapes and colors about where you were. "

-Romare Bearden

Goals: Students will learn about the history of the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North while discovering how artists create narratives through formal devices by examining paintings by Horace Pippin, Walter Ellison, and Archibald J. Motley, Jr. They will also create their own works of art focusing on journeys.

Introduction African Americans have been displaced frequently-and often forcefully-throughout the history of the United States. African slaves were transported to colonial America in record numbers beginning as early as the 17th century. Though slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, African Americans still faced discrimination and danger in the South because of racist attitudes supported by the Jim Crow laws. Beginning in the 1920s, many African Americans left poor rural areas of the southern United States and headed north to industrialized urban centers such as Chicago and New York, where jobs and greater freedom beckoned. It is estimated that approximately 2 million African Americans moved between 1920 and 1925 alone, while during the entire migration, between 1920 and 1970, more than 6 million people relocated.

One result of this migration was the outburst of music, art, and literature by African Americans, including artist Aaron Douglas, musician Duke Ellington, writer W.E.B. Du Bois,

poet Langston Hughes, and writer Zora Neale Hurston-a movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Beginning in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in the 1920s, this exploration and expression of African-American life soon spread to other urban areas such as Chicago's Bronzeville, a traditionally African-American community on the South Side, and influenced generations of writers.

Three paintings in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago together relate the story of the Great Migration, from South to North, country to city. Horace Pippin, in his Cabin in the Cotton, makes visual his grandmother's stories about life on a cotton plantation in the rural South at the time of the Civil War. In The Train Station, Walter Ellison, who migrated from Georgia to Chicago as a teenager, depicts the beginning of the journey from the South to the North, as African Americans board trains to northern destinations. Finally, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., represents the vibrant cultural life of African Americans in Chicago during the Jazz Age in his painting Nightlife.

i ART EDUCATION / JANUARY 2002



INSTRUCTIONAL R E S O U R C E S

Depictions of daily life in the United States appear frequently in the art of the 1930s and 1940s. Regionalist artists such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton depicted life in the Midwest, while Edward Hopper focused on urban life. Meanwhile, the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (WPA/FAP), a program of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's domestic reform aimed at saving America's cultural heritage, encouraged artists to represent the places and experiences they knew. More than 5,000 artists between 1935 and 1943, including Motley and Ellison, were paid to depict the U.S. scene in paintings, sculptures, murals, prints, photographs, and posters. Pippin similarly chose to paint "from his heart and mind" (May, 1997, p.40).

In addition to depicting a particular history in the United States, these paintings also demonstrate different ways artists utilize formal elements to create narrative. Color creates rhythm and movement in a scene, as well as contributes to mood. Line organizes the composition, creates depth, and contributes to the rhythm of the paintings. Symbols, texture, and pattern are other tools of these artists. By exploring these paintings, students learn the tools to depict their own histories and journeys.

Horace Pippin, American (1888-1946)

Cabin in the Cotton. c. 1935

Oil on canvas on mounted masonite. 18" x 33"

In memory of Frances W. Picks from her children Thomas F. Pick and Mary P. Hines. 1990.417.

Object Description Utilizing flat spaces, pure colors, and simple patterns, Horace Pippin creates a scene of a cabin near a cotton field in his small painting Cabin in the Cotton. The white cotton field echoes the billowing white clouds above, which stand out against the deep blue sky. The cabin stands silhouetted in the middle- ground. In front, a woman in a blue polka-dot kerchief sits while a child plays nearby. Clues to the workings of the farm dot the yard, including an ax, wagon, chickens, and cast-iron cooking pot.

Though Pippin, who lived most of his life in Pennsylvania, visited the South in the 1920s, he did not base this painting on his own experiences. Instead, Pippin drew upon the stories of his grandmother who had been a slave before the Civil War. Pippin's painting, which romanticizes the experiences of African Americans in the South, appeared at a time replete with sentimentalized images, including Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, Gone with the Wind, and a movie entitled Cabin in the Cotton, the opening scene of which may have influenced this painting.

Artist Biography Pippin loved to draw as a child. However, it was World War I, in which he served in the distinguished all-Black 369th Regiment, that returned him to drawing. He was shot in the right arm by a German sniper and turned to drawing as therapy. He began to draw and then later to paint by guiding his right arm with his left. The self-taught artist produced portraits, still lifes, and genre paintings, including three paintings entitled Cabin in the Cotton.

Questions for Discussion:

What colors does the artist use?

What shapes does the artist use?

Describe the space in this painting-is it flat, or is it deep? Where do you think this painting takes place? What clues tell you this?

Imagine what life must be like on this farm. What kinds of work do you think would need to be done?

What do you think life was like for African Americans before the Civil War? How did the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War change life for African Americans after the war?

Suggested Activities:

Looking Activity

"30-Second" Look Have students look at the image for 30 seconds; then remove the work from view and ask questions about the details, without discussing their answers in depth. Then return the image to view and discuss what they did and did not see.

Writing Activity Imagine you are one of the figures in Pippin's painting. Write a short story about your home and daily life, based on details in the work.

Art Activity Have students create a work of art based on their own homes or neighborhoods.




l

Walter Ellison, American, 1899-1977, Train Station, 1936. Oil on canvas, 8 inches by 14 inches. Charles M. Kurtz Charitable Trust and Barbara Neff Smith and Solomon Byron Smith funds; <

thorough prior gifts of Florence Jane Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, and Estate of Celia Schmidt, 1990.134, ? The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved.

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INSTRUCTIONAL Wi E6 MWIM ii M I 0

Walter Ellison (American, 1899-1977)

Train Station, 1936

Oil on canvas. 8" x 14"

Charles M. Kurtz Charitable Trust and Barbara Neff Smith and Solomon Byron Smith funds; through prior gifts of Florence Jane Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, and Estate of Celia Schmidt, 1990.134.

Object Description Ellison's small painting, Train Station, is clearly symmetrical. The sharply receding diagonal lines divide the composition into three parts, while the two white columns in the center mark the boundaries of the three sections. The delineation of the space serves to symbolize the social separation of the races in the United States. On the left, well-dressed White people-men in tuxedos and top hats, women in long dresses-board trains headed south to such popular tourist destinations as Miami and West Palm Beach. On the right, African Americans walk towards train platforms labeled with locations such as Chicago and Detroit. Women in colorful hats and a man in overalls head to the departure point for Detroit, while another peers at a newspaper machine marked "Only 5 cents." The rhythm of the porters' orange uniforms across the canvas and the marching rows of arches set the hurried pace of the busy station. In the background, an archway marked "Colored" attests to the segregated public facilities, such as entrances and exits, bathrooms and water fountains, endured by Blacks under the Jim Crow laws.

The train has symbolized freedom and hope for many African- American artists and authors. Indeed, the Underground Railroad, with its "stations" and "stationmasters," led the way to freedom for runaway slaves in antebellum America. Thus, Ellison's painting uses the train station to indicate both the lack of freedom in the South and the hope for freedom in the North.

Artist Biography Walter Ellison grew up in a small town near Macon, Georgia. As a teenager in the early 1910s, he left home and headed north to Chicago by train. Once there, he became a student at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where many other African-American artists such as Archibald J. Motley, Jr., studied. Ellison's art garnered widespread attention, as he took part in the American Negro Exposition, the Illinois Arts Project of the WPA, and the foundation of the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago.

Ellison inserts himself into the migration he depicts, and indeed experienced, by including his initials, "W.W.E.," on the suitcase of a Black man in the lower right comer of the canvas.


Where do you think this painting takes place? What clues tell you this?

Name some of the places the people are going. Are all the people going to the same place? Who is going where?

How has the artist divided the painting into different sections?

How does this painting make you feel?

Describe the artist's use of line in this painting.

Discuss the artist's use of pattern and rhythm.

Why do you think the African Americans are moving north?

How are the Jim Crow laws made visible in this painting? Where do you see examples of segregation and discrimination against African Americans?


Looking Activity Name a small detail of the work of art and have students locate it. This can be done as a round-robin, with students taking turns looking and answering.

Writing Activity Imagine you are in this train station. Write a postcard to a family member or friend describing your trip.

Art Activity Sketch the composition of Ellison's painting to analyze how the artist utilizes symmetry and diagonal lines to compose his scene.

Archibald J. Motley, Jr. (American, 1891-1981)

Nigtfilife, 1943

Oil on canvas, 36" x 473/4 "

Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field, Jack and Sandra Guthman, Ben W. Heineman, Ruth Horwich, Lewis and Susan Manilow, Beatrice C. Mayer, Charles A. Meyer, John D. Nichols, Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Smith Jr.; James W. Alsdorf Memorial Fund; Goodman Endowment, 1992.89

Object Description Men and women dance and talk while drinks are served in Archibald J. Motley, Jr.'s painting Nightlife. Bright colors and strong diagonal lines create a lively rhythm across the painting's surface. A man in the left foreground gestures towards a woman in the center; above her, the tray of the waiter connects the foreground to the people dancing in the background. Other gestures lead the viewer's eyes across the




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Archibald John Motley, Jr., American, 1891-1980, Nightlife, 1943. Oil on canvas, 3634 inches by 473/4 inches. Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field, Jack and Sandra Guthman, Ben W. Heineman, Ruth Horwich, Lewis and Susan Manilow, Beatrice C. Mayer, Charles A. Meyer,

John D. Nichols, Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Smith, Jr.; James W. Alsdorf Memorial Fund; Goodman Endowment, 1992.89, O The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved.

I

Restrcted ift o Mr.and Ms. Mashal Fiel, Jac andSandr Guthan, en W.Heinean, Rth Hrwi c h L e w i a n d S u s a n M anilw, Batric C. Myer,Charls A. eyer



INSTRUCTIONAL R E S O U R C E S

painting, while the contrasting warm colors-purples, reds- pulsate with the music that emanates from the jukebox on the right.

This painting is one of many in a series by Motley illustrating the social life of African Americans in Chicago's historic South Side neighborhood, Bronzeville. Though World War II raged in both Europe and the Pacific at the time of this painting's production, Motley focuses instead on the energy of the Black community during the Jazz Age. At this time, such famous musicians as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Bessie Smith played in clubs in Chicago.

Artist Biography Motley, whose own family moved to Chicago from New Orleans when he was only 3 years old, attended The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and participated in the WPA/FAP. He soon had shows in New York, received a fellowship to study for a year in Paris, and became a professor at Howard University, a prominent and traditionally Black school.

In many of his paintings, Motley explores the racial mixture of the African-American community, with skin tones in his works ranging from light to dark. It was important to Motley to depict the diversity, as well as the vibrancy, of Black life. As he stated, "I've always wanted to paint my people just the way they were" (Mooney, 1999, p. 163).


Describe what people are doing in this painting. Where do you think this painting takes place? How do you know?

What is the mood of this painting? How do you think the artist created this feeling? What lines and colors contribute to this feeling? Trace the diagonal paths through Motley's composition.

What kind of music do you hear?


Looking Activity Sights and Sounds-Imagine you are in this painting. Describe what you hear, see, smell, and feel.

Writing Activity African-American poet Langston Hughes, a major force in the Harlem Renaissance, portrayed African-American life in poems inspired by the rhythms of jazz. Read his poem, "Motto" (1951), and relate it to the painting.

I play it cool And dig all jive. That's the reason I stay alive. My motto, As I live and learn, is: Dig and Be Dug In Return.

Generate a list of words inspired by this painting and use these words to create your own poem.

Art Activity In class, listen to music and create a work of art inspired by the sounds you hear.

Wrap-Up and Evaluation

Discuss the journey students have taken through these paintings-to the past, from South to North, from country to city. Compare and contrast Motley's Nightlife with Pippin's Cabin in the Cotton. Ask students what other images from the Great Migration the artists might have painted.

Having discussed each work of art with your students, have them create a work of art based on a journey they have taken, either a move or a vacation. They may choose to depict different parts of the journey or just one scene. Encourage them to share their journeys with the class and to write a short label describing their scene. In class discussion, compare students' journeys with those depicted in the paintings by Pippin, Ellison, and Motley.

Jamie W Johnson, formerly the Coordinator ofArt Partnerships at The Art Institute of Chicago, is now an independent educational consultant in New York City. This unit derives from the American Art Partners Curriculum Guide (Johnson, 2000), which accompanies the American Art Partners program, a multi-visit program of The Art Institute of Chicago andArt Resources in Teaching (A.R. T). E-mail: jamiewjohnson@onebox. com

REFERENCES: Johnson, J. W. (2000). American Art Partners Curriculum Guide.

Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago. May, S. R. (1997) African American Art Teacher Manual. Chicago:

The Art Institute of Chicago. Mooney, A. (1999). "Representing Race: Disjunctures in the Work of

Archibald J. Motley, Jr." Museum Studies. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago. 163-179.

RESOURCES Teacher resource materials relating to these three paintings are available for purchase. To receive more information, contact The Art Institute of Chicago, Teacher Resource Center, at http//:www.artic.edu/aic/students/resources or (312) 443-3719.




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