Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist

Archibald Motley (1891–1981) was one of the most important figures associated with the Harlem Renaissance and is best known as both a master colorist and a radical interpreter of urban culture. Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist is the first full-scale survey of his paintings in two decades. The exhibition offers an unprecedented opportunity to carefully examine Motley’s dynamic depictions of modern life in his home town, Chicago, as well as in Jazz Age Paris and Mexico. Specifically, it highlights his unique use of both expressionism and social realism and resituates this underexposed artist within a broader, art historical context.