The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens its new exhibition “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” on February 25. The show features paintings, sculptures, and photographs, and even displays important books and film clips from that philosophical movement that took place some 100 years ago and pushed Black people to reconceptualize themselves.
The Met’s show is a chance to see how the convergence of Black people in the 1920s led to a meeting of artists, activists, musicians, and everyday people who wanted to make a new life for themselves. They turned to cities like New York, Chicago, and Paris for a taste of a cosmopolitan life full of culture, new ideas, and new opportunities.
The exhibition points to the cultural philosophy of the New Negro movement and its artistic boldness. There are images that show Black people demonstrating organizational unity—as members of Elks Clubs, as part of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, and as members of local tea clubs.
Photos and paintings depict them marching to demand an end to police brutality and white mob violence, spending time together to dance and enjoy the vibrant sounds of jazz, and creating a comfortable world for themselves—an intimate world separate from the immediate past of enslavement and a safe place that distanced them from racial violence.
Karen Juanita Carrillo photos
“The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” features some 160 works, with 40 percent from the collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) like th Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Fisk University Galleries, Hampton University Art Museum, and Howard University Gallery of Art.
The show is on view through July 28, 2024, and will feature public programming such as jazz performances at the Met in March and April, and an evening designed for Harlem families to see the exhibition in April.
The Met will also host a variety of exhibition-related educational and public programs, in addition to other opportunities to engage the New York City community. On April 14 at 2 p.m., as part of the Sight and Sound series, Leon Botstein and the Orchestra Now will perform the work of William Grant Still—considered to be the “Dean of African American Composers,” whose close ties with leading cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance cemented his place as a frontrunner of the movement.
Jazz music from the era will be performed live at Date Night at the Met on March 8 and 9 and April 26 and 27. On April 15, the Met will welcome families from Harlem to explore the exhibition and other parts of the museum after hours, with family-friendly activities and opportunities to speak to Met experts about the collection. Other family- and teen-focused programs will include activities at the Museum Mile Festival (June 11), a Family Afternoon (July 14), Teen Fridays workshops (spring), a weeklong Art Explore program for teens (summer), and more. For more information, see the Met website at https://www.metmuseum.org/events/whats-on.