Aaron Douglas

You have two options for this station. If you choose option 2 make your own copy of this Google Doc and follow the directions. If you choose option 1 everything you need except paint, markers, or colored pencils and paper is on this page.

Aaron Douglas

Painter (1899-1979)

Aaron Douglas was an African-American painter and graphic artist who played a leading role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. – Biography.com

Douglas’s art continues to have an impact today. In the 2016 young adult novel All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely a high school student named Rashad is inspired by Aaron Douglas’ art:

“Let me describe what his work looks like. Imagine The Lion King. But all the lions are people. Black people. So Simba and Mufasa, are, let’s say, a black king and a prince. Now, imagine that you’re looking at them through the thickest fog ever. So thick that you can’t make out any actual feature on their bodies, but you can still see their silhouettes. So it could be any king. Or any prince. But you can still tell they’re black. That’s Aaron Douglas’s work. And the first time Mrs. Caperdeen [Rashad’s teacher] showed us a slide from his series Aspects of Negro Life, I knew the kind of art I wanted to start making.” (All American Boys, pp. 143-144)

Scroll down to see the paintings

1) VIEW - Go to https://www.wikiart.org/en/aaron-douglas (above) and scroll down look at Aaron Douglas’s art.

OPTION 1

2) DRAW (on paper or electronically) a scene from your own life in the silhouette style of Aaron Douglas. PHOTOGRAPH it , UPLOAD it to your Boom or Bust folder and share it with Mr. Morse.

OPTION 2

2) WRITE a paragraph reacting your favorite of his works. Make a copy of this Google Doc and do your writing on the bottom.

Be sure to include: the name of the artwork, a description of it, what you think the painting represents, and why you are drawn to it.

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