{"data":{"id":"4355","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":4355,"topgoose_id":1934,"tms_id":4355,"display_name":"William H. Johnson","sort_name":"Johnson William H.","display_date":"1901–1970","begin_date":"1901","end_date":"1970","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWilliam H. Johnson used the language of\nmodernist abstraction to create images\nof African American life in the 1930s\nand 1940s. Moving from his native South\nCarolina to New York in 1918, at the age\nof seventeen, Johnson settled in the\ncity’s flourishing Harlem neighborhood.\nAfter studying at the National Academy of\nDesign from 1921 to 1926, Johnson\nspent more than a decade living in Europe—\nfirst in France, followed by Denmark\nand Norway—where he felt he could achieve\ngreater success as an African American\nartist. During these years, he assimilated\nthe lessons of avant-garde European\nmodernism and began working in a bold\nexpressionist style. Johnson returned to\nNew York in 1938 and began teaching\nat the Harlem Community Art Center, which\nwas a focal point for the burgeoning art\nscene in Harlem during the 1930s. In the\nCenter’s print studio, Johnson learned\nhow to make screenprints, a medium that\nencouraged him to move away from his\nexpressionist style toward a pared-down,\nplanar language rooted in folk traditions.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn example of this new approach,\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/9659\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\nBlind Singer\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e utilizes flattened planes\nof vibrant, unmodulated color to capture\nthe rhythms of daily life in Harlem. Here,\nJohnson portrays one of his favored\nsubjects of this period: the lively musicians\nand dancers he encountered on the city\nstreets. Such subjects also reflect Johnson’s\ninterest in the writings of his friend Alain\nLocke, the philosophical leader of the\nHarlem Renaissance, who exhorted African\nAmerican artists to find inspiration in the\nlife and culture of their own people.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500027150","wikidata_id":"Q1883000","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:54:12.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-29T07:02:42.859-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/4355/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/4355/exhibitions"}}}}