ol in Kansas City where he continued to hunger for knowledge. His thirst for education was matched only by his yearning for a woman. Her name was Alta Sawyer, who, before marrying Douglas, was in an unhappy marriage to another man. Here is an excerpt from a letter written to Alta from Douglas, “I’ve been working and reading furiously… I am doing some work in ornament and design, a very tedious and laborious task. I am still getting up at 4 and 4:30. Sweetheart, you have aroused again in me that passion for work and McCurry 2 study, that deep-seated ambition to push to the top. It is that same passion and that same ambition which alone carried me through all my school life."”(Grogan and Kirschke, 1999). This letter is an example of the intensity and passion that Douglas carried with him. After his short hiatus as a teacher he moved to New York City to study under Winold Reiss. He received his master from Columbia University Teachers College in 1944, was founder and chair of the art department at Fisk University from 1937 to 1966 and died in 1979. Douglas was a constant workaholic with a primary emphasis in African-American art, and was considered by many to be the “Dean of African-American painters”. All of these events took place during one of the strongest African-American art movements ever, the “Harlem Renaissance”, thus, Douglas can be seen as one of the foremost African-American painters of all time. Aspects of the Negro Life is a four-panel mural found in the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. It was painted in 1934 and commissioned by the WPA. The general theme of the mural, a historical depiction of slavery from capture through reconstruction, is very simple and split up into the four panels. The first panel shows blacks in their native Africa putting emphasis on dance, music and sculpture. The second and third panels depict the harshness of slavery, emancipation, and the slaves fleeing their old homes for the north. Finally, the subject of the fourth panel is again music and dance. While each of the panels is used to express the same basic concept my favorite is the third, which also happens to be the only one in book. In describing the general appearance of the third frame, From Slavery through Reconstruction, it is important to note that Douglas is a difficult artist to put into one McCurry 3 genre. However, this work is most accurately described as a realistic piece. The picture plane is flat, thus to the uneducated person, the existence of depth is not easily seen. The reason for this is primarily because African craftsmanship is based on form

Some topics in this essay:
Greek Roman, Emancipation Proclamation, Slavery Reconstruction, Negro Life, Public Library, Aaron Douglas, Alta Douglas, Fisk University, , Kansas City, aspects negro, aspects negro life, negro life, capital building, aaron douglas, center composition, african-american art, figures people, kirschke 1999, emancipation proclamation, music dance, slavery emancipation slaves,