Was an African American painter,illustrator and arts educator.He was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
He was born in Topeka Kansas,to Aaron & Elizabeth Douglass.He developed an interest in art during his childhood and was encouraged in
his pursuit by his mama.Aaron graduated from Topeka High School in 1917.
Aaron received a B.F.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1922 and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Kansas the next year.
Commenting on his days at the University of Nebraska,where he won a
prize for drawing,he recalled:"I was the only black student there.Because I was sturdy and friendly,I became popular with both faculty and students." His ability to get along notwithstanding,Aaron longed to draw from an undraped model and felt constrained by the
"Victorian attitudes" that prevented the school from using nudes in the classroom.
his pursuit by his mama.Aaron graduated from Topeka High School in 1917.
Aaron received a B.F.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1922 and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Kansas the next year.
Commenting on his days at the University of Nebraska,where he won a
prize for drawing,he recalled:"I was the only black student there.Because I was sturdy and friendly,I became popular with both faculty and students." His ability to get along notwithstanding,Aaron longed to draw from an undraped model and felt constrained by the
"Victorian attitudes" that prevented the school from using nudes in the classroom.
In 1925,Aaron moved to New York City settling in Harlem.Just a few months after his arrival he began to produce illustrators for both The Crisis and opportunity,the two most important magazines associated with the Harlem Renaissance.He also began studying with Winold Reiss,
a German artist who had been hired by Alain Locke to illustrate The New Negro. Winold teaching helped Aaron develop the modernist style he would employ for the next decade.Aaron engagement with African & Egyptian design brought him to the attention of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois and Dr.Locke,who
were pressing for young African American artists to express their African heritage and African American folk culture in their art.
In 1926,he married Alta Sawyer.They lived together in Harlem and for the next several,years opened their home to an important,powerful circle of artists and writers we now call the Harlem Renaissance.
Aaron was heavily influenced by the African cultured he painted for.His natural talent plus new acquired inspiration allowed him to be considered the "Father of African American arts." That title led him to say," Do not call me the Father of African Arts,for I am just a son,of Africa,and paint what inspires me.'
In addition to his magazine illustrations for two the most important African-American magazines of the period,he illustrated books, painted,canvases and murals,and tried to start a new magazine showcasing the work of younger artists and writers.It was during the early 1930s that Aaron completed the most important works of his career,his murals at Fisk University (on which he had the assistance of Painter Edwin Harleston) and at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library (now the Schomburgh Center for Research in Black).
Throughout his early career,Aaron looked he looked for opportunities to increase his
knowledge about art. In 1928-29,Aaron studied African and Modern European art at
the Barnes Foundation in Merion,Pennsylvania,on a grant from the foundation.In 1931 he traveled to Paris,where he spent a year studying more tradition French painting and drawing techniques at the at the Academie Scandinave.
In 1940,he moved to Nashville, Tennessee,where he founded the Art Department at Fisk University and taught for 27 years.Coinciding with this move was a shift to a more traditional painting style,including portraits and landscapes.His striking illustrations,murals,and paintinngs of the life and history of people depict an emerging African American individuality in a powerful personal way.Working primarily from the 1920s-1940s,Aaron linked African American with their African past and proudly showed African American contributions to society decades before
the dawn of the Civil Rights movement.His work made a lasting impressing on future impressing on future generations of African American artist.
Best represented by black & white drawings with African American silhouetted figures, as well as by portraits,landscapes,and murals,Aaron art fused modernism with ancestral African images,including fetish motifs,masks,and artifacts.His work
celebrates African American versatility and adaptability,depicting people in a variety-of settings-from rural and urban scenes to churches to nightclubs.His illustrations in books by leading African American leading African American writers
established him as as the African American artist of the period.
Beginning in the 1920s,Aaron illustrations appeared in books by James Weldon Johnson,Countee,Alain Locke,and other prominent African American writers,activists,and intellectuals.They were also featured in such magazines as The
Crisis,Opportunity,Harper's and Vanity Fair.From the late 1920s-the 1940s,his art was shown across the United States at universities,galleries,hotels,and museums,
including the Harmon Fondation in New York,the museum of of Fine Arts in Dallas
Howard University's Gallery of Art,the traveling show of Harlem Renaissance artsworks sponsored by the Studio Museum of Modern Art.Aaron died in Nashville.
a German artist who had been hired by Alain Locke to illustrate The New Negro. Winold teaching helped Aaron develop the modernist style he would employ for the next decade.Aaron engagement with African & Egyptian design brought him to the attention of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois and Dr.Locke,who
were pressing for young African American artists to express their African heritage and African American folk culture in their art.
In 1926,he married Alta Sawyer.They lived together in Harlem and for the next several,years opened their home to an important,powerful circle of artists and writers we now call the Harlem Renaissance.
Aaron was heavily influenced by the African cultured he painted for.His natural talent plus new acquired inspiration allowed him to be considered the "Father of African American arts." That title led him to say," Do not call me the Father of African Arts,for I am just a son,of Africa,and paint what inspires me.'
In addition to his magazine illustrations for two the most important African-American magazines of the period,he illustrated books, painted,canvases and murals,and tried to start a new magazine showcasing the work of younger artists and writers.It was during the early 1930s that Aaron completed the most important works of his career,his murals at Fisk University (on which he had the assistance of Painter Edwin Harleston) and at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library (now the Schomburgh Center for Research in Black).
Throughout his early career,Aaron looked he looked for opportunities to increase his
knowledge about art. In 1928-29,Aaron studied African and Modern European art at
the Barnes Foundation in Merion,Pennsylvania,on a grant from the foundation.In 1931 he traveled to Paris,where he spent a year studying more tradition French painting and drawing techniques at the at the Academie Scandinave.
In 1940,he moved to Nashville, Tennessee,where he founded the Art Department at Fisk University and taught for 27 years.Coinciding with this move was a shift to a more traditional painting style,including portraits and landscapes.His striking illustrations,murals,and paintinngs of the life and history of people depict an emerging African American individuality in a powerful personal way.Working primarily from the 1920s-1940s,Aaron linked African American with their African past and proudly showed African American contributions to society decades before
the dawn of the Civil Rights movement.His work made a lasting impressing on future impressing on future generations of African American artist.
Best represented by black & white drawings with African American silhouetted figures, as well as by portraits,landscapes,and murals,Aaron art fused modernism with ancestral African images,including fetish motifs,masks,and artifacts.His work
celebrates African American versatility and adaptability,depicting people in a variety-of settings-from rural and urban scenes to churches to nightclubs.His illustrations in books by leading African American leading African American writers
established him as as the African American artist of the period.
Beginning in the 1920s,Aaron illustrations appeared in books by James Weldon Johnson,Countee,Alain Locke,and other prominent African American writers,activists,and intellectuals.They were also featured in such magazines as The
Crisis,Opportunity,Harper's and Vanity Fair.From the late 1920s-the 1940s,his art was shown across the United States at universities,galleries,hotels,and museums,
including the Harmon Fondation in New York,the museum of of Fine Arts in Dallas
Howard University's Gallery of Art,the traveling show of Harlem Renaissance artsworks sponsored by the Studio Museum of Modern Art.Aaron died in Nashville.
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