Aaron Douglas Oil Painting Reproductions

Who is Aaron Douglas?

Aaron Douglas is a 20th-century African-American artist.  He was born in Kansas in 1899 and died in Nashville in 1979.
Today Douglas' African American oil paintings are highly prized.

Douglas was educated in Topeka, gaining an Arts Degree from the University of Nebraska.

A move to Michigan enables further studies at the Detroit Art Museum. However, his real ambition was to live and study in Paris with some of the great artists of the day.

In 1927 Douglas moved to Harlem, painting and illustrating periodicals to highlight African-American injustices.

In his later years, Douglas founds the Art Department at Fisk University in Nashville.

Why is Aaron Douglas Famous? 

Douglas is one of several famous African-American artists famous for his oil paintings and also for his murals.  The majority of his art focuses on race, segregation, and black social issues of the time.

As an early 20th Century artist, Douglas is known as a preeminent leader of the African-American art movement.

Songs of the Towers, painted in 1934 is a section from a four-part mural collection celebrating the rise of the Harlem Renaissance.

Let My People Go is one of the better-known paintings held by the Metropolitan Museum.  It is a powerful biblical oil painting depicting Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

Why is Aaron Douglas important to the Harlem Renaissance?

As a founder of the Harlem Renaissance art movement, his paintings and teachings were inspirational to a new generation of young African Americans to become involved in the arts.

Douglas taught extensively in America, spreading the word and encouraging other black art students in their careers.

Which painting made Aaron Douglas famous?

The artist is best known for his silhouette paintings, of which Aspiration 1936, held by the de Young Museum in San Francisco, is his most famous.

Discover joyful oil painting reproductions by African-American artists of the Harlem Renaissance Art Movement.