Suited Man, oil on canvas, 1931, signed on lower right, 36” x 30"
1. Have the students look at this picture and consider the colors that the artist chose.. Have them write a brief statement about what the colors and his posture say about the man in the painting. Discuss how, to us in the two-thousands he looks sophisticated and approachable. The cool colors, blues and greens, soften the picture along with the pop of his warm-colored red tie which gives him an air of being in charge. He is looking off into the distance as if he is thinking deep thoughts. Perhaps he is planning a meeting or he is about to make an important decision?
2. Explain to your students that this was painted in 1931 and that in the 1930s portraits of African American men and women were never depicted as strong and sophisticated individuals. This is what makes this piece, along with all the others that Ruth Starr Rose did, so profound. These images were a way of challenging the system and introducing the White population to a world previously unknown to them. Talk about how our view of him is different from the view many people would have had of him in the 1930s.
3. “The Great Migration” by Jacob Lawrence is a book of the series of paintings he made called “The Great Migration Series.” They talk about the migration of Black people from the south to north. It is a children’s picture book, however, the art was not originally created for children and it would work for much older children. There are multiple versions of people reading it aloud available online that you could play for your students. That migration, in some ways, created the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and the 1930s where Black artists such as Jacob Lawrence created amazing visual and performance art.
4. Paul Robeson was an amazing Black singer, actor, and political activist who started performing during the Harlem Renaissance. He also went to law school at Columbia University. Listen to one of his recordings (There are many).
5. Consider that these artists were creating art for both other Black people as well as the White elite (White people with money). While they were considered great artists, they were still considered less than White people in society because of their skin color. How would your students deal with that situation in the 1930s? How does that compare to today?
MD State Standards
W.3.1/W.4.1/W.5.1&W.6.3/W.7.3/W.8.3