"In an African Setting"

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the painting "In an African Setting", by Aaron Douglas. As the paper explains, through the Public Works Act, African-American artist Aaron Douglas was commissioned by the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library to compose works on African-American history. The paper studies the piece's form, technique and symbolic significance.

From the Paper:

"In this particular work, Douglas' use of sharp edges and repetitive designs was greatly influenced by African sculptures, jazz music, dance and geometric forms. "In An African Setting", was in fact part of a larger collection. The work was a four panel series that was used to communicate the distance that the African American had traveled, from freedom in Africa, to slavery in the United States, to the challenges of freedom after the Civil War. The first panel, and most famous, depicts an African man and woman dancing to the beat of drums."

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