Aaron Douglass Song Of Towers Analysis

Aaron Douglas was an African American artist popular during the Harlem Renaissance. His “Song of Towers,” has a historical context pertaining to the period after World War I, and during The Harlem Renaissance ending in the late 1920s. The Harlem Renaissance describes the movement of African Americans who fled from south fled upstate for a better future. During this Jazz Era’s height, art and music was a great source of pride for African Americans. “Song of Towers,” is one of Douglas’s motifs of the Harlem Renaissance. Since I don’t remember learning about The Harlem Renaissance, this was a learning experience for me. My initial interpretation of this oil painting was that Jazz music and technology was on a surge. Jazz music was how

The visual devices used were concentric circles and rectangular buildings I stated the visual art elements were intertwined with the principles of design. The tall rectangular shapes portrayed skyscraper towers in New York City. Industry was portrayed through the smoke and the man with the suitcase stepping up the cog wheel. I saw a man figure in the middle playing a saxophone and assumed he was the subject matter. There was a use of gestural lines to create form of a 3-D effect with the buildings, as well as the smoke floating in the air, the people figures, the shadows, and the wheel of life. There were uses with the secondary hue green, which has value starting with a light green by the statue of liberty in the concentric circles darkening with each circle. The green cool color with a use of a neural color of brown for the buildings was how the picture was portrayed. Great space was used for overlapping objects, like the people and buildings. The buildings had a two-point perspective due to the angles they are pointing at. Symmetrical balance was achieved with the use of colors, line, and shapes (to take up space). There was a sense of movement with the man holding the briefcase, which looked like he was walking up stairs. Unity and Variety were accomplished using the use of color, shape, line, etc. The painting is