harris anne the shadow of self

8/13/2019 Harris Anne the shadow of self

1/69

A SHADOW O F T HE SELF: THE ARCHETYPE OF TH E SHADOW AARONDOUGLAS S ILLUSTRATIONS F OR J AM ES WELDON JOHNSON S

GOD S TROM ONES

byANNE G HARRIS

A THESISPresented to the Department of Ar t History

and th e Graduate School of the University of Oregoni n p ar ti al fulfillment of the requirements

for the d eg re e o fM a st er o f Arts

March 2 1


2/69

A Shadow of the Self The Archetype of the S h ad o w i n Aaron Douglas sIllustrations for James Weldon Johnson s God s Trombones, a thesisprepared by Anne G H ar ri s i n partial fulfillment of the requirements for theM a st er o f Arts degree in the Department of Art History. This thesis has beenapproved and accepted by :

Date

Committee in Charge:

Accepted by

Dr. W Sherwin Simmons ChairDr . Kate MondlochDr . Karen Ford

Dean of the Graduate School


3/69

An Abstract of the T h es is o fAnne G Harris for the d eg re e o f Master of Art sin the Department of Ar t History to be taken M ar ch 2 0 10Title: A SHADOW OF TH E SELF: TH E ARCHETYPE O F THE SHADOW IN

AARON DOUGLAS S ILLUSTRATIONS F OR J AM ES WELDONJOHNSON S GOD S TROM ONES

Approved:Dr W ~ } l r w n Simmons

In 1927 J a m e s Weldon Johnson published God s Trombones SevenNegro Sermons in Verse a book of poems based on sermons heard in theAfrican American Church. There are eight accompanying illustrations b y A ar onD ou gl as . T he se images visually interpret the subject matter of the p oe ms in astyle that blends Cubism Orphism a nd Ar t Deco Douglas depicted al l thefigures in these images human and supernatural in the form of shadowsilhouettes a stylistic practice h e c on ti nu ed t hr o ug h ou t h i s artistic career. Theshadow is an ancient archetype in h u m a n mythology and psychology. Thisthesis looks at the depi cti on of shadows in a Jungian context. I explore thepossibility that the us e of the shadow allows deeper communication betweenthe audience and the i ma ge b y accessing the collective unconscious. I alsoexamine the shadow as a metaphor for the socio-political oppression of AfricanAmericans rampant in the period between the wars.


4/69

CURRICULUM VITAENAME OF AUTHOR: Anne G HarrisPLACE OF BIRTH: San Francisco CaliforniaDATE OF BIRTH: July 4 198

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:University of Oregon EugeneUniversity of California Davis

DEGREES AWARDED:Master of Arts Ar t History 2 1 University of OregonBachelor of Arts English 2 2 University of California Davis

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:African American ArtPolynesian Art

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:Graduate Teaching Fellow Visual Resources Center University of

Oregon Eugene 2 7

IV


5/69

T BLE OF CONTENTSChapter Page

SH DOWOF THE SELFBIBLIOGRAPHy 9


6/69

VI

LIST OF FIGURESFigure Page

1 Baseball Cartoon from th e San Francisco Chronicle 152. Egyptian Papyrus.................................................................................. 183. D an M as k from the Ivory Coast............ 194. The Process of Creating a Silhouette 255. A Diagram of Facial Profiles 266 Listen Lord A Prayer 327. The Creation......................................................................................... 348. The Prodigal Son 379 Go Down Death A Funeral Sermon...................................................... 4110.Noah Built the Ark................................................................................ 4411.The CrucifIxion..................................................................................... 4712.Let My People Go 5113 The Judgment Day................................................................................ 54


7/69

A SHADOW OF THE SELF

The dates of the Harlem Renaissance vary depending on the source. Themovement began after th e end of World War when African American soldierswho fought overseas, and experienced a more racially egalitarian society,returned to America and were confronted with prejudice and violence.l Theleaders of the African American community, including W.E.B. DuBois, AlainLocke, and James Weldon Johnson, responded with the New Negro movement,t he idea that fostering and developing unique African American culture and artcould help to remove the oppression and negative perceptions placed on AfricanAmericans at the time. David Levering Lewis describes the Harlem Renaissanceas a ... forced phenomenon, a cultural nationalism of the parlor, institutionallyencouraged and directed by the leaders of the national civil rightsestablishment for the paramount purpose of improving race relations in a timeof extreme national backlash ... 2 The New Negro artistic movement flowedthrough the 1920s, slowing when the financial crisis h it in 1929. The HarlemRenaissance ended during the Great Depression, many cit ing 1935, whenHarlem experienced riots, as the final year, though, again, t he dates a re

Mark Robert Schneider, fricanmericans in the azz ge Decadeof Struggle andPromise Lanham, M.D.: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2006), 7.2 David Levering Lewis, ed., The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader New York:Penguin Books, 1994), xiii.


8/69

2debatable. 3 Th e Harlem Renaissance included all varieties of culturalexpression: m u si c , d a nc e , painting and drawing, sculpture, poetry, literature,drama, and editorial prose.

One of th e m ost well-known Harlem R enaissance painters andillustrators is A aron D ougl as. Th e w or k of A aron D ouglas h a s always interestedme, especially in the broader context of the artistic flourishing of the post-WorldWa r I period. After reading Johnson s God s Trombones Seven Negro Sermonsin Verse and seeing the accompanying images, I was f as ci na te d b y h ow th eillustrations functioned in a larger cultural context. Looking into th e topic, Ifound these i mages, along with many of h is o th er illustrations, to be lessresearched and discussed than h is m ur al s an d p ai nt in gs . I n the multiplecopies of a book, t he y w ou ld h av e been more widely available to both a n AfricanAmerican and a white American audience an d their impact w ou ld h av e beengreater. T h es e i m ag es needed to b e f ur th er explored and m o re s e ri ou s lyconsidered.

Aaron Douglas w as b or n in Kansas in 1899 and is one of th e m ostcelebrated artists of the Harlem Renaissance. He studied art in collegereceiving his BFA from th e University of K an sa s i n 1923. He th en ta ug ht a rt inhigh school before moving to New York in 1925.4 Once in New York he wasintroduced to Winold Reiss, w ho b ec am e a n important mentor. Right away,D ou gl as d id d ra w in gs and illustrations for magazines an d books. His images

3 Lewis xv.4 Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson, Historyof frican mericanrtistsfrom1792 to th Present New York: Pantheon B oo ks , 1 99 3 , 127.


9/69

3for Johnson s God s Trombones: Seven Negro Sennons in rs are an exampleof this early work. 5 Douglas a lso d id murals and continued his studies as theNew Negro movement progressed. He t raveled to Pennsylvania and Paris tostudy, and traveled in Tennessee and Chicago while completing commissions.6Douglas art iculated his main intentions as wanting to establish and maintainrecognition of our essential humanity, in other words, complete social andpolitical equality. 7 This objective facilitated his participation in the HarlemRenaissance, which strove to utilize art to eliminate racism and prejudice. Ascan be seen in his illustrations for God s Trombones Douglas intended his workto present a unified portrait of black people in relation to their spirituality.Douglas purposely utilized mythic symbols to facilitate communication betweenthe races.8

James Weldon Johnson, originally from Florida, was a well-known leaderin the New Negro movement. Immensely talented, Johnson practiced lawstarted a newspaper, wrote musicals and songs, acted as an official UnitedStates diplomat, was head of the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People and wrote novels and collections of poetry, including God sTrombones: Seven Negro Sennons in rs in 1927. God s Trombones was

5 Bearden, 128.6 Ibid. , 130.7 Ibid., 132-3.8 Ibid. , 134.9 Lewis 753.


10/69

4extremely popular and th e verses were often read or recited at large artisticand literary gatherings in Harlem.

In Europe during the period between the wars, th e ideas of Freud and hisfollowers were well known and widely accepted. William A Shack notes thatduring these crazy years of 1919-1929 ... surrealism, gaiety, and bodilyabandonment swept aside old ideas of dignity and tradition ...Freud s advice toge t ri d of inhibitions was accepted... l was dur ing that decade that artistsand writers from Harlem traveled to Par is and other parts of Europe to live andstudy, including Aaron Douglas.

Jung began developing the concept of th e shadow self in 1913, when hewas still amicably involved with Freud and Freudian practice and theory. 2 Thebehaviors, thoughts, and urges that a person has t ha t are not acceptable tosociety are rejected, but they do not disappear. They remain a part of th e selfstored in a part of th e psyche known as the shadow. is the embodiment of al lthat a person represses. Everyone carries a shadow, and th e less it isembodied in the individual s conscious life th e blacker and denser it is .. .i t isrepressed and isolated from consciousness... [it] is liable to burst forth suddenlyin a moment of unawareness. 13 Jung continued to expand upon this initialformulation throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. 14

1 Ibid., 754.11 William Shack, Harlem in Montmartre Paris Jazz Story between the Great Wars Berkeley C.A.: University of California Press, 2001), 50.2 Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections ed. Aniela Jaffe, trans. Richard andClara Winston New York: Pantheon, 1962), 181.3 Carl Jung, The History and Psychology of a Natural Symbol, in The Collected Works G Jung Psychology and Religion West and East Vol 11 ed. Si r Herbert Read,


11/69

5 is Jung s concept of the shadow that will inform part ofmy

exploration of Douglas s images. I will be examining Douglas s use of theshadow as a visual symbol in his illustrations as well as how the shadow inthese works of art acts as an archetype to help access the viewers unconsciousminds, another Jungian concept. Jung s concepts provide a way to ana lyze theimages, but I do not want to claim a formal Jungian analysis, as I am far f romknowledgeable enough to do one. Another part of my approach is to look athow the interplay of light and dark in the illustrations could communicate ideasof racial equality as outlined by the leaders of the New Negro movement. I willexplore how the use of the shadow and the use of the combinations of dark andlight in the visual representations communicate Harlem Renaissance ideals.

The Harlem Renaissance was a concentrated blossoming of the arts inthe yea rs in between the World Wars. Houston A Baker, Jr. defined this idea ofrenaissancism as a spirit of nationalistic engagement that begins withintellectuals, artists, and spokespersons at the turn of the century and receivesextensive definition and expression during the 1920s. This spirit is one thatprompts the black artist s awareness that his or her only possible foundationfor authentic and modern expressivity resides in a discursive field marked by

Michael Fordham, Gerhard Adler, and William McGuire New York: BollingenFoundation, 1958), 76 .14 Jung discussed the shadow in several essays including Psychotherapists or th eClergy in 1932, A Psychological Approach to th e Dogma of the Trinity in 1948, andThe Shadow in 1951. The first two essays can be found in The Collected Works ofeJung: Psychology and Religion: West and East ol 11. The final one can be found inThe Collected Works of e G Jung: Aion ol 9, Part II


12/69

6formal mastery... 5 Along those lines, an important factor in the burgeoningartistic production and recognition of African American art is ts was the idea thatachievement in the arts could establish a collective, proud racial identity forAfrican Americans while correcting the prejudicial and oppressive treatmentthat was common in America during that time period. As Amy Helene Kirschkehas stated, white power was maintained by telling history through whitehistorical memory. 16 The leaders of the African American cultural worldbelieved t ha t a rt could visually reclaim African American history and express itin a way that was powerful, uplifting, and dignified. W.E.B. DuBois, AlainLocke, and others urged young artists to look to their artistic heritage as theysaw it: African artistic traditions and the rural folk-culture that developed inAmerica. By appropriating the themes, designs, and iconographies of the past,African Americans could create a collective identity that instilled racial prideand participated equally in American life.

But African American art, l ike all the other art of the period, was notcreated, viewed, and interpreted in a vacuum. The Harlem Renaissance artists,while actively part of the New Negro movement and its r ac ia l a ims, were a lsoAmerican artists and beyond that part of the international artistic communityduring the 1920 s . They operated within the context of the s ta ted objectives ofthe Harlem Renaissance, but also within the post-World War I atmospherepresent in America and Europe. They were a part of all the artistic changes and

Houston Baker, Jr., Modernism and the Harlem enaissance Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1987), 91 .6 Amy Helene Kirschke, rt in Crisis W E B DuBois and the Struggle for AfricanAmerican Identity and Memory (Bloomington, LN.: Indiana University Press, 2007), 6.


13/69

7experimentation that flourished globally as well as the various traditions,motifs, and styles tha t had been explored and practiced for millennia. To beable to understand the art of the Harlem Renaissance in the broadest way, itmust be analyzed in multiple ways: as African American art created by anoppressed portion of American society to further the advancement of asegregated race; as American art showing the influences of American art trends,the fascination with the idea of th e exotic the issues raised by participation ina devastating war, th e social atmosphere of a shifting demographic, and thebeginnings of American experimentation with visual abstraction; and finally asa part of the changing context of the global art world, incorporating variousthemes, methods, materials, and psychological processes.

In the first half of the 20 th century, the written word and the visual artsboth began to explore non-realistic expression. Stream of consciousnessnovels; cubist paintings and collages; poems filled with angst, vulgarity, andfree-form verse--all danced within the new context of globalization, nationalism,disillusionment, and celebration. This was also the per iod of the widening ofpsychoanalytic psychology s influence. Sigmund Freud and his disciplesintroduced ideas of the subconscious, neuroses, psychoses, the unconscious,and the experience of repression and sublimation into the culture of theWestern world.

Carl Jung, once a favorite disciple of Freud, developed these ideasfur ther on h is own, exploring notions of a collective unconscious and mythicaluniversal archetypes that provided symbols and stories to modern man smyths. He then related these ideas to the pract ice of art . The issue of the


14/69

interaction between art and psychology was discussed in his 1922 essay Onthe Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry : Although the two thingscannot be compared, th e close connections which undoubtedly exist betweenthem call for investigation. These connections arise from the fact that thepractice of art is a psychological activity and, as such, can be approached froma psychological angle. 17 This psychological angle can be applied to a locally-produced work of art , facilitating an analysis that stretches beyond one groupor location.

Jung s psychological approach has supported th e idea of a collectivemythic unconscious, which can be explored by comparative mythology andfrequently supported through references to works of art. The key underlyingconcept of common or global myths is th e idea that all human societies sharebasic, inherited archetypes and archetypal stories that repeat across time.These myths and characters common to human culture ar e then depicted invisual and verbal symbols, in literature, music, and art. Joseph Campbellstates that symbols stem from the psyche; they speak from and to thespirit... they are in fact th e vehicles of communication between the deeperdepths of our spiritual life and this relatively thin layer of consciousness bywhich we govern our daylight existences...Out of the myths, cultural forms arefounded. 18 Art is a vehicle for the mythic tradit ion, communicating with boththe present and the past:

Carl Jung, On th e Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry, in The Spirit in ManArt nd Literature trans. R.F.C. Hull (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,1972),65.8 Joseph Campbell, thw ys to Bliss Mythology nd Personal Transformation ed.David Kudler Novato, C.A.: New World Library, 2004), 23-4.

8


15/69

9But to thi s end communicative signs must be employed:words, images, motions, rhythms, colors, and perfumes,sensations of al l kinds, which, however, come to the creativeartist from without and inevitably bear associations, not onlycolored by the past but also relevant to the commerce of theday. 19

Art communicates on a personal level, on a societal level, and on a cross-cultural level, commenting on the p re sent while accessing the past.

In God s Trombones Seven Negro Sermons in erse James WeldonJohnson looked to the local religious traditions of the South to create hispoems. His inspiration was drawn from folk sermons common within theAfrican American Christian church, sermons, Johnson explained, thatpassed with only slight modifications from preacher to preacher and fromlocality to locality. 20 This subject matter appears on the surface to be local andracially specific in impact; it is an American collection of poems based onAfrican American religious interpretations. However, by selecting Christian

subject matter for his poems, Johnson broadens the scope of his expression.Christ ian myth has played a part in the visual and poetic language of much ofthe Western world for millennia. Any use of this subject immediately andinexorably connects Johnson to a la rge por tion ofWestern society and Westernpsyches.

To illustrate the book, Johnson enlisted the services of Aaron Douglas, apainter and illustrator well-known in the Harlem publishing world. Douglas seight illustrations not only provided imagery for these poems and their

19 Joseph Campbell, The asks ofGod Creative Mythology New York: Penguin, 1991),93. James Weldon Johnson, God s Trombones even Negro ermons in Verse New York:Penguin Books, 1990), 1.


16/69

Christian subjects, but they visually and symbolically expanded on Johnson smythological verses. The eight illustrations depicting Christian myths andpractices became a part of a vast mythic and artistic tradition.

God s Trombones even egro Sermons in Verse was published in 1927by the Viking Press in New York. Aaron Douglas provided an image for each ofthe verses and for the prayer that began the volume. The volume started, aftera preface by Johnson, with Listen, Lord--A Prayer, included to factor in th ecreation of atmosphere. 21 This was then followed with verses entitled TheCreation, The Prodigal Son, Go Down Death--A Funeral Sermon, NoahBuilt the Ark, The Crucifixion, Let My People Go, and The Judgment Day.The book was well-received, praised by the critics, including W.E.B. DuBoiswho stated that Douglas s illustrations were wild with beauty, unconventional,daringly and yet effectively done. 22 Douglas himself considered these works tobe h is bes t up to that point and later reworked the images as full-colorpaintings on masonite. These were the only early illustrations that Douglasrevisited i n thi s manner.

Each of these eight illustrations demonstrated Douglas s blendingelements of the traditions of the African, the African American, and theChristian experience. The original illustrations published in 1927 were full-page images placed on the page facing the beginning of each verse. They werecolored in tonal gradations of black and white. The figures in the images were21 Johnson, 11.22 Caroline Goeser, Picturing the New Negro Harlem Renaissance Print Culture andModern B l ack I d en t it y Lawrence, K.S.: University of Kansas Press, 2007), 152. Goeser, 167.


17/69

al l depicted in silhouettes, mirroring the flatness of the text on the facingpages . Douglas utilized a halftone process to create the images. 24

Douglas utilized settings, figures, and symbols from Africa in hispictures to illustrate the racial heritage of African Americans al l the way back toBiblical times. Douglas s a rt must be viewed in triplicate. The illustrationswere paired with text drawn from African American folk culture as it was in theearly 20 th century demonstrating local and racial relevance. They incorporatedplentiful visual references to Africa and elements of African arts, along withtraditional Christian imagery. The style in which Douglas worked referencesthe artistic developments of the period as well as incorporating Jungianpsychological concepts that were issuing from Europe. Each of these analyticareas contributed to the effectiveness of the images. His work successfullydemonstrates the artistic attitudes put forth by the Harlem Renaissanceleaders, reflects social and emotional situations present in America, and createsa group heritage through the intricate melange of his visual vocabulary.

Jung, when applying his analytic process to art , s ta ted:al l pictoral [sic.] representations of processes and effects in thepsychic background are symbolic. They point, in a rough andapproximate way, to a meaning that for the t ime being is unknown.It is, accordingly, altogether impossible to determine anything withany degree of certainty in a single, isolated instance.

Jung correctly asserts that there is no possible way to ascertain precisely whata pain ti ng means . The viewers each have their own individual interaction withthe work; the a rt is t is as unreliable an asserter of meaning as the audience. A

24 Ibid. , 166. Carl Jung, Picasso in h Spirit in Man rt and Literature see note 17 , 136.


18/69

work is created in one context but viewed in many. The meaning is variableand that variability is continually changing with time. An exploration ofartwork, as will be done here with Douglas s i llustrat ions, is just that: anexploration. The meaning cannot be concretely stated, but it can be discussedand propositions made. This thesis will concern itselfwith a discussion ofpossible racial and historical implications of the images and the psychologicaland mythological references within the pic tures that connect these works to alarger collective t radi tion. The images will be viewed within the context of theNew Negro movement. They will be considered in relation to the goals andproscriptions outlined by the leaders of the talented tenth 26 in regards to artand l it erature. The analysis will also expand into the socio-historical context ofthe intra-war period, considering the impact that would have been made in asegregated society.

Some of the terms utilized in thi s analysis will seem overly general orpotentially offense in their lack of nuance. Any discussion involving thethoughts or behaviors of more than one person will raise the issue of theveracity and usefulness of collective terminology. Groups are made ofindividuals and as such cannot ever t ru ly be said to have one opinion or beliefand socially constructed delineations are often misleading, naIve, or obsolete.Terms I will be using, such as African American community or Western

26 W.E.B. DuBois conceived of the term t he talented tenth to describe th e to p tenpercent of the African American population that were educated and middle class as wellas potential artistic, social, or political l eade rs . Thi s group he called upon to, as SharonF. Patton states in fricanmeric n rt lead th e way, and consequently prove theirworthiness as American citizens, and provide role models for less fortunate AfricanAmericans. Sharon F. Patton, fricanmeric n rt Oxford: Oxford University Press,1998), 114.


19/69

Christian tradition have these problems of generalization. However, as thisthesis involves race, local communities, and religious groups and traditions,terms inherently prone to controversy have to be employed. I have tried to workwithin the context of the material I am using: the African American communityas was thought of by the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance; the traditionsand religious practices as they were viewed by the art is ts articulating them; theracial groupings and labels as they were applied contemporary to the period.

In the first essay in The ew egro Alain Locke discussed the developingculture of African Americans at the time, drawing both on America and Africaas sources of black artistic lineage. Harlem, he claimed, was the center of thesense of a mission of rehabilitating the race in world esteem from that loss ofprestige for which fate and conditions of slavery have so largely beenresponsible. 27 The New Negro embodied the African American imbued withracial consciousness and pride, making social and political contributions, livingwithout the inner psychology of an oppressed race. The New Negro was keenlyresponsive as an augury of a new democracy in American culture. 28 He was aproduct of both Africa and America and was an active participant in bothheritages.

Locke extended this definition into the field of artistic influence. In hisessay The Negro Youth Speaks, also in he ew egro Locke urged thedeveloping generation of artists to utilize their instinctive love and pride of

Alain Locke, The New Negro, in The ew egro New York: Simon and Schuster,1997 , 14.8 Ibid., 9.


20/69

14race to offer through art an emancipating vision to America. The NewNegro art is t, by Locke s definition, had an ardent respect and love of Africa, th emotherland. By drawing upon domestic and African sources, the brands andwounds of social persecution are being t he proud stigmata of spiritualimmunity and moral victory. 29 The African American, as today s racial labelsuggests, was the product of both Africa and America. Incorporating elementsof both cultures, Locke suggested, enabled the artist and his audience tochange prevailing perceptions of race, allowing a more positive definition of thenegro and ultimately activating positive changes in society. The AfricanAmerican culture could trace its lineage back to Africa, beyond the sufferingexperienced in America, allowing the population to overcome racial obstacles.

While the rediscovery of African heritage was highly advocated by theleading intellectuals of the movement, whatever course the artistic journey took,the ultimate goal was one of t inspiring social change and progress. Theimages of African Americans in American art of the 1920s and 1930s were rifewith stereotypes and caricatures: large, colored lips; protruding eyes;excessively large smiles with bright, whi te teeth; awkward physicality of figures;and frequent dancing or expressions of confusion in th e figures movements(Figure 1 30

9 Locke, The Negro Youth Speaks, in he New egro (see note 27), 53 .3 This line of thought is developed much more thoroughly in Phoebe Wolfskill s articleCaricature and the New Negro in th e Work of Archibald Motley Jr. and Palmer Haydenin he rt ulletin 91 (Sept. 2009): 343-365.


21/69

l \ J ~ ~ I t f d \::t;Ir

i . ~ ~ I I ..: oc

~ { F ,

igur Baseball Cartoon from the October 11 1924 San FranciscoChronic1e31

was these culturally popular and racially detrimental representations thatprompted Locke to advocate the usefulness of African American artistsdepicting their subjects as capable, complex people instead of propagating theexaggeration and distortion common to the time. He writes in his book gro rt Past and Present of 1936:

31 Authentic History Center, Stereotypes of African Americans: Essays and Images, theAuthentic History Center, http:j jwww.authentichistory.comjdiversity j africanjengravings j 0 1.h tm .


22/69

There is a double duty an d function to Negro art--and by th atwe m ea n t he proper development of the Negro subject as anartistic theme--the role of interpreting the Negro in the Americans ce ne t o America at large is im portant, b u t more important still ifthe interpretation of th e Negro to himself... the Negro s ownc o nc ep ti on o f h i ms e lf has b ee n w ar pe d b y prejudice a nd th ecommon American stereotypes. To these there is n o b et te r or more) effective antidote th an a more representative Negro art ofwider range and deeper penetration.

This was th e c on t ex t o f the God s Trombones illustrations in th e localmicrocosm, within the African American community. The images shouldfunction t o u pl if t and inspire th e African American race. Their effect uponAmerican society at large is secondary.

Aaron Douglas moved t o H ar le m in 1925, in th e early years of the NewNegro movement, and played a n important role in creating a new artisticidentity of African Americans, utilizing the suggested methods of the HarlemRenaissance intelligentsia. E ar ly o n, he w a s i nt ro d uc e d to Winold Reiss, aGerman artist wh o t oo k g re at interest in ethnography an d artisticallyrepresenting racial groups.33 Reiss urged Douglas to consider African art as th eracial heritage of African Americans. Both Reiss and Locke, with whomDouglas also became acquainted, advocated African art, along w i th D o ug la s sown experiences, as sources for him to d ra w upon.4 Douglas studied Africana rt a nd even di d a year-long internship with the B arnes Foundation a n d itsextensive African art collection. 5

Alain Locke, Negro Art: Past and Present Albany, N.Y.: J.B. Lyon Press, 1936), 12 . Amy Helen e Kirschk e, Aaron Douglas: Art ace and th e Harlem Renaissance Jackson, M.S.: University Press of M ississipp i, 1 99 5), 2 8.4 Ibid., 29 .5 Ibid., 45 .


23/69

7The continuous influence ofAfrican culture can be seen in Douglas s

works, as can African American culture. While Africa presented an artisticheritage, Douglas was a thoroughly modern American. Douglas believed theAfrican American artis t should transmit the African suggestion through themedium of his own personality and background. 36 Douglas utilized aspects ofmodernism and African art in combination with the African Americanexperience to create a unique artistic style that came to embody the New Negromovement.

Douglas q.escribed his own style as follows: wanted to create somethingnew and modern ...with Art Deco and the o ther things that were taking thecountry by storm. That is how 1 came upon the notion of using a number ofthings such as Cubism and a style with straight lines. 37 Douglas blendedelements from the global art scene, such as Art Deco, Cubism, and Orphism,and incorporated geometric design elements and African iconography to createhis individual brand ofAfrican American modernism.8 A variety of terms havebeen used to label Douglas s stylistic amalgamation and the one that suits best,in my opinion, is Afro-Deco, coined by Richard Powell.9 Douglas s figureswere admittedly deliberate appropriations from African art (Figure 2). used

Mary Ann Calo, Distinction and Denial Race Nation and the Critical Construction ofthe African American Artist 192 194 (Ann Arbor, M.l.: University of Michigan Press,2007), 145.7 David C. Driskell, Some Observations on Aaron Douglas as Tastemaker in theRenaissance Movement, in Aaron Douglas African American Modernist ed. Susan Earle(New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press, 2007), 89-90.8 Renee Ater Creating a Usable Past and a Future Perfect Society : Aaron Douglas sMurals for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Aaron Douglas African AmericanModernist (see note 37) , 106 .9 Goeser, 18.


24/69

18the Egyptian form, Douglas explained, the head was in profile flat view, thebody, shoulders down to the waist turned halfway, the legs were done also fromthe side and the feet were also done in a broad perspective. 40

Figure Egyptian Papyrus c 1400 B.C.E.)41

Douglas also used stylized slit-eyes in his figures Figure 3). This artisticconvention was borrowed from African masks , most likely t he masks of the Danpeoples of the Ivory Coast and Liberia. 42

4 Ater, 106.4 Victor Stoichita, Short Historyof the hadow London: Reaktion Books, 1997), 13.42 Amy Helene Kirschke, The Fisk Murals Revealed: Memories ofAfrica, Hope for theFuture, in aron Douglas frican merican Modernist see note 37), 116.


25/69

igur 3. Dan Mask from the Ivory Coast43

Elements of African scenery flora and fauna can also be seen in some of theillustrations. Douglas became a leader in the advocated practice ofincorporating African art into Harlem Renaissance art.

43 Jennifer isele Multicultural Resource Center Saint Paul Public Schoolshttp://www.mrc.spps.org.


26/69

20While the utilization ofAfrican motifs may have been a deliberate act

by Douglas in accordance with the New Negro movement s artistic philosophies,it was also an act which draws upon the collective unconscious and linksmythic traditions through their visual symbols. The African arts thatinfluenced Douglas, namely the Egyptian and West African, are ancient artistictraditions. Africa is the birthplace of the human race. The myths andcorresponding images that arose from that continent are among some of theoldest in th e world. By transferring them into a modern context, the symbolsare reoriented while still visually triggering a connection to the unconsciousresiding within the audience s minds.

The Egypt ian form is one of the most prominent appropriations utilizedby Douglas, and is s een in each of the illustrations he completed for God sTrombones This borrowing seems especially appropriate for illustrations ofChristian myths. Jung stated, the Christian era owes its name andsignificance to another antique mystery, that of the god-man, which has itsroots in the archetypal Osiris-Horus myth of ancient Egypt. 44 The Christianmythic tradition developed out of several ancient systems, including those fromAfrica. Jung also believed the use of religious material could be utilized also toheal a split within society of the time. Archetypes create myths, religions, andphilosophical ideas that influence and set their stamp on whole nations andepochs ...myths of a religious nature can be interpreted as a sort of mental

Carl Jung, quoted in Robert A. Segal ncountering Jung Jung ofMythology(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998), 95 .


27/69

21therapy for the sufferings of mankind ... 45 Jung s theory on the healingpower of myth is copasetic with the aims of the New Negro movement. Artwhich depicts myths and their symbols, can be used to heal the social riftsbetween races as well as to redress the sufferings of a portion of the populationand uplift them.

Another guideline for New Negro artists was the use and complimentarydepiction ofAfrican American folk culture as it was viewed by the participantsof the New Negro movement. Johnson s folk sermon poems are an example ofthe glorification of African American cul ture . The introduction Johnson pennedfor the book explains his deliberate use of a neglected part of African Americanculture: A good deal has been written on the folk creations of the AmericanNegro: his music, sacred and secular; his plantation tales, and his dances; butthat there are folk sermons, as well is a fact that has passed unnoticed. 46 Allthese aspects of the culture along with the people who practiced them weresubject to comic depictions, exploitations, or caricatures. Johnson, in amanner that would have greatly pleased Locke took the old-time Negropreacher who had only been shown as a semi-comic figure and introducedhim to the world as serious and important part to African American life.Johnson argues that i t was through h im that the people of diverse languagesand customs who were brought here from diverse parts of Africa and throwninto slavery were given their first sense of unity and sol idari ty . He was the first

Ibid.6 Johnson, 1


28/69

shepherd of this bewildered flock. 47 Johnson takes a neglected andmisrepresented part of African American history and use s it to promote apositive and inspirational image to both h is white and black readers.

The subject of the poems and images, the African American church, wasa pervasive part of many African Americans lives, and thus a theme that waseasily identified with by a large port ion of black readers. was also a commonAfrican American cultural tradition recognized by American white society.DuBois stated that The Negro church of to-day is the social centre of Negro lifein the United States, and the most characteristic expression of Africancharacter. 48 As multiple parts of the American population would be familiarwith the importance of the church to the African American community, the useby Johnson of church sermons for poetic versification was an effective way tocommunicate ideas of New Negro art to a broad audience. God s rom oneswas published by Viking Press, which was a national, white-run publishingcompany. The audience of the book thus included both African American andwhite American readers.

The images that illustrated these poems are intimately related to thesubject matter and thus to the source of the verses. Douglas created picturesthat would be forever tied to African American folk culture, while beingavailable to America as whole. Most of the images focused on Biblical scenes,which could be viewed in a local or a broader Western context, but as they areliterally bound to folk-based poems, they will, at least superficially, be viewed in

Ibid., 2.8 W.E.B. DuBois, The ouls oflack olk ed . Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Terri HumeOliver New York: Norton and Company, 1999), 121.


29/69

the New Negro/African American tradition. By simply creating such imagesas illustrations, regardless of the content, Douglas endorsed the HarlemRenaissance theories of racial advancement through art.

W.E.B. DuBois s writings shaped a great deal of the explanations and theaims of the New Negro movement. In The ouls oflack olk DuBois posits histheory of the veil of double-consciousness felt by African Americans:

After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teutonand Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with aveil gifted with second-sight in this American world, -a worldwhich yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him seehimself through the revelation of the o ther world. is a peculiarsensation, this double-consciousness, th is sense of always lookingat one s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one s sou l bythe tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.One ever feel his two-ness, -an American, a Negro; two souls, twothoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in onedark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps i t from being tornasunder. 49The idea of a second self and a darkness that covers the true self of an

oppressed and misunderstood man conceptually coincides with the concept of arepressed shadow self. In fact, DuBois frequently compared the AfricanAmerican to a shadow. He stated that heritage of the black race contains t heshadow of a mighty Negro past. 50 The current situation of th e black man isdark due to the presence of t he shadow of a vast despair. 51 DuBois s personalmemories are colored by the awful shadow of the veil. 52 The power of thisvisual metaphor was vast. This concept of the shadow self the double of a man49Ibid. 10-11.5 Ibid.5 Ibid., 14.52 Ibid., 48.


30/69

24who contains al l that society hat es and shuns , was also conceptualized byJung and his followers This image of an oppressed shadow figure is a mythicarchetype and the depiction of shadow figures could facilitate th e viewer saccess to a pan-human unconsciousness.

Many parts of th e world associated the shadow/silhouette with blackpeople. Jus t as many young Harlem Renaissance artists traveled to France tos tudy and to experience a place without Jim Crow laws, many of the New Yorkjazz musicians toured in France and set tled in Paris. The clubs that sprung upin Montmartre marketed themselves to capitalize on the popularity of Jazz andits predominantly black musicians. The names reflected this fascination withthe idea of the New Negro and his culture: Swing Club, Cotton Club, The DonJuan, Big Apple, and Club Harlem. 5 One of these clubs was La Silhouette,located in t he heart of Harlem in Montmartre. 54 The image of th e silhouettewas linked closely enough to black culture that the Parisian public wouldunderstand the association. The implied blackness in a shadow or a silhouettewas a universal concept, stretching across New York America, and even theAtlantic Ocean.

The shadow and the silhouette, essentially a depiction of one s shadow,have been associated with lower classes and oppressed people for hundreds ofyears in Western societies and their cultural traditions. Scientific research inth e 18th and 19th centuries utilized silhouettes to illustrate racist physiognomictreatises. One of the pioneers of physiognomy was Johann Caspar Lavater, an

5 Shack, 100.5 Ibid 109


31/69

25authority on th e practice of utilizing physical features to determine theintangible character of a person. Lavater s methods and books employedsilhouettes traced from the projected shadows of individual faces Figure 4 .

igur The Process of Creating a Silhouette55

To this end, Lavater collected silhouettes to be used for interpretation. Hiscollection numbered approximately 22,000 shadow tracings.56 Lavater believedthe outline of the profile was th e truest depict ion ofman. He statedPhysiognomy has no greater , more incontrovertible certainty of the truth of i tsobject than that imparted by shade. The shadow of a man s face was areflection of his soul. 57

Lavater published his theories in Physiognomische Fragmente zurefordemng der Menschenkenntib und Menschenliebe a four volume set

55 Stoichita, 156.56 Richard T. Gray, bout Face German Physiognomic Thoughtfrom Lavater touschwitz Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), xxxiii.57 Stoichita, 157.


32/69

26released between 1775 and 1778. By 1810, there were 16 German, 15French, 20 English, two Russian, one Dutch, and one Italian editions of theworks. 8 His work continued to be popular and influential in to the early1900 s; physiognomy, argues Richard T. Wayne, became one of the primarytools deployed by civil society for this fabrication of the individual according topreordained ethical, characterological, nat ional, or racial definitions. 59 Thelowest racial group on Lavater s shadow hierarchy was the black race, includingAfricans, black American slaves, and Moors (Figure 5). The stub nose and theprotruding lips of the Moor testify... to a peculiar mixture of dull animality in theintellectual sphere with powerful passions in the physical domain. 6o

Figure A Diagram of Facial Profiles Comparing the Facial Angles of Apes andBlacks 1791)61

8 Gray, xxx.9 Ibid., xlii.60 Ibid. , 107.6 Michael D. Harris, olored Pictures ce nd Visual epresent tion (Chapel Hill,N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 26 .


33/69

27Th e deni grat ion of the b la ck r ac e w as a key element of physiognomic study.Th e silhouette, the tracing of the void cast by a person s shadow, became theimage associated with this form of debasement.

Th e silhouette as an art form was wildly popular i n E u ro pe t hr o ug h ou tthe 18 th century, and by the begi nni ng of the 1800s, silhouette cutters, thep eo pl e w ho operated the tracing machine a nd c ut the image out of the paper,were more prolific than painters. T he practice of paper cutting quickly spreadto New England and the rest of America, where both blacks and w hites becamesilhouette cutters.

One of the early American practitioners in silhouette cutting was thepainter and collector Charles Willson Peale. Peale owned a physiognotrace, amachine that traced projected shadow profiles in a small size. The machinecould be o pe ra te d b y the sitter, b u t w as m os t often o pe ra te d b y a silhouette-cutter. The machine produced four identical small silhouettes. 63 Pealeacquired a physiognotrace in 1802 and placed it in his m us eu m a s anattraction as well as a souvenir selling opportunity. Peale charged 1 cent for asitter to operate t h e m ac hi ne and keep the resulting images, and 8 cents for hisprofessional silhouette artist do create and cut the images, which was by fa r themo st popular choice. This artist was Moses Williams, a f or me r s la ve of Peale,who e a rn e d h i s freedom by cutting silhouettes. 64

R. Megroz Profile rt through the ges Study of the Use and Significance ofProfileand Silhouette from the Stone ge to uppet Films New York: Philosophical Library,1949 ,91-2.63 Charles Coleman Sellers, Charles Willson Peale New York: Ch arl es Scrib n er s Sons,1969 , 306.

64 Ibid.


34/69

28Moses Williams was one of the best known paper-cutters as they were

called at the time) in America. Williams was a slave until age 27, when hebegan to work at Peale s museum operating the physiognotrace. Peale freedhim once he was able to support himself with silhouette art . He was gifted atcreating and cutting the profile images. was said that he was so good, h iseye could be better trusted than the machine. 65 In 1803 alone, Williams cut8,880 profiles and earned enough money to buy a large house and marry awhite woman. While physiognomy texts utilized silhouettes to intellectuallyjustify the oppression of the black race, the actua l art of shadow tracing allowedWilliams and other early African American cutters to participate in white societyand in white artistic culture.

These contrasting experiences with silhouet tes may have influencedDouglas when he began to depic t the figures in h is art in profiled shadow form.The shadow silhouette form was multifunctional. Within the New Negrocontext, the similarity to African profile art referenced the artistic heritage of theAfrican American in accordance with the ideals put forth by th e leaders of themovement. It also more directly accessed the history of African Americanartists, who were involved early on in America s silhouette trade. Within thecontext of American art as a whole, the use of simplified profile formsrepresented well the trends popular in the art world between the wars. incorporated an Art Deco streamlined finish with a reductive abstractionistsubstance. Douglas s transformation of the figures in the images updated the

65 Ibid.66 Ibid.


35/69

ol der m oti f being depi ct ed, making i t m or e accessible to contemporaryreaders. The use of the shadow to depict black people taps into the Jungi anidea of the repressed shadow self paralleling the predominant attitudestowards black people a t the time: dangerous, unpredictable, exotic, andultimately excluded and u ni nc or po ra te d. T he simple use of a shadow figureallows Douglas to depict black people as they exist within th e context whitesociety applied to them. The appli cat ion of shadow/profile figures also made aconnection to the popular beliefs propounded by physiognomy. The profileusually depicted in simplified silhouette, was used to analyze the facial andcranial features in groups of people. T he physical traits of the races were thenused to support the prejudices of the t im e. P hy si og no mi c devotees pointed tothe shadow profiles of different races as justifications for prejudice. By takingthis f or m o f i ma ge , Douglas appropriated the silhouette an d utilized it to refutestereotypes and ultimately to create a positive image of the race through his art.He subverts th e negative t ro pe i nt o a positive model of the New Negro 67

Listen Lord A Prayer is the first poem in the collection. is written inthe manner of an invocation or an introduction to the poem sermons thatfollowed Johnson describes the experience that inspired the piece an d thereason for it s inclusion:

O ne f actor in the creation of atmosphere I have included-thepreliminary prayer. .I t was the prayer leader who directly preparedthe way for the sermon, set the scene, as it were. However, a most

67 This approach to th e utilization of s h ad o w s il ho u et te s i n African American art wasfurther developed by contemporary artist Kara Walker. Walker s pieces employ solidsilhouette depictions of figures that incorporate th e caricatured exaggeration of facialfeatures as a wa y of transforming th e negative image. For information on Walker pleaserefer to Kara Walker s monograph, ara Walker Narrativesof a gr ss Cambridge,M A : M LT Press, 2003).


36/69

30impressive concomitant of the prayer, th e chorus of responses whichgave it an antiphonal quality, I have not attempted to set down.These preliminary prayers were often products hardly lessremarkable than the sermons.58

This prayer was a key part to the African American church experience and thusan essential part of this collection. This poem also includes the idea of theshadow as a benevolent symbol. The middle of the prayer says, And now 0Lord, this man of God,jWho breaks the bread oflife this morning--jShadowhim in the hollow of thy hand, jAnd keep him out of the gunshot of the devil22-5). The reference of God shadowing man in his hand as a form of protection

brings the concept of the shadow into the reader s mind in a positive light. Theshadow reference also echoes the shadow form seen at the beginning of thepoem, imparting continuity between the text and the image.

The accompanying image shows a dark, si lhouetted figure, visible fromthe knees up, in th e Egyptian manner Douglas described Figure 6). The figurelooks upwards, towards the unseen source of several rays of light. The manraises one hand up while the other disappears into the ground. Jagged bol ts oflightning streak in from the r ight side o f the pic ture . These waving streaks maybe suggestive of the sound waves contained in the antiphonal responses thatJohnson omitted from his ve rse s. They may also highlight the presence of agreat power, itself responding to the verse of prayer directed towards i t and tothe figure, par tly in light, partly in shadow. The figure s mouth and eyes arehighlighted, with his lips parting as if speaking the prayer. The eye is depictedas a slit, a practice that can be seen in mos t of Douglas s works. The very first

68 Johnson, 11.


37/69

image in the collection introduced both the ar ti st ic heri tage of fricaembodied in the profiled depi ct ion of the figure an d in its features and anexper ience of African American culture seen in the religious p ra ct ic e o f prayerdepicted. Much like the p oe m it accompanies the image is introductorypreviewing in a straightforward manner the artistic style and motifs seen in therest of the illustrations an d also essential debuting the shadow symbol thatwill trigger the viewer s conscious an d unconscious associations th rou g h ou t th ecollection.


38/69

32

Figure Listen, Lord A Prayer69

69 James Weldon Johnson, God s Trombones Seven Negro Sermons in rsDocumenting th e American South, 2004 , http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit / johnson/

johnson.html. All of the images used in Figures 1-8 i n thi s the si s a re sourced from thissite. This work i s th e property of th e University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillmay be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long asthis statement of availability is included in the text.


39/69

The first official poem in the book is The Creation a telling of the

creation of the world and man as described in the Book of Genesis .Fundamental to the creation of the world was the division of light and dark.The poem emphasizes this dichotomy. Early in the process God smiled, Andthe light broke,/And the darkness rolled up on one side, And the light stoodshining on the o ther ,/And God said: That's good (10-13). A few l ines later,God creates the earth. Then down between/The darkness and the light/Hehurled the world;/And God said: That's good (22-5). The universe was createdto include both dark and light; the world is p lac ed by God at their juncture.This is not only an account of the Biblical creation myth, but it could also be anargument for the peaceful co-existence ofwhite and black races. As Godcreated it , neither is dominant, neither is deemed better than the other, bothare in equal harmony stamped with God's approval.

Douglas's illustration for this poem continues the motif of the shadowfigure, while accessing African and African American traditions andappropriating white Christian traditions and visually transforming them (Figure7). The illustration shows the silhouetted profiled shadow figure Adamstanding in Eden looking up at a giant hand of God extending down from theheavens. God's hand, which i s also depicted in dark shadow form, delicatelydrops nine orbs into the sky, which is suggestive of the planets of our solarsystem. A rainbow, a symbol of the covenant between God and man, a rcsacross the background. A small plant reaches upwards next to the silhouettedfigure of Adam and wavy lines of water flow across the ground. Adam is shownin pitch black silhouette, darker than the praying figure in Listen Lord A


40/69

4 rayer which h as tones of grey incorporated God s shadowy h a n d is alighter grey T h is p a ir in g of dark and light suggests that God embodies the lightof th e universe a nd m an embodies t h e d a rk n es s B ot h a re n ee de d to completeGod s vision

Figure The Creation


41/69

The profiled features again referenced Africa, allowing the viewer to see

Douglas s Adam as an African, as a black man. Goeser argued that Douglas sapplication of African features to this biblical figure mark a radicalappropriation, visually shifting the location of Judeo-Christian origins from awhite Garden of Eden to a black African setting. 70 This artistic interpretationchallenged the traditional Christian iconography that was frequently utilized tojustify prejudice and racism.

The hopeful and traditional creation theme is followed by a modernupdate to the New Testament story of the Prodigal Son. Johnson s versiontransfers the setting into a contemporary Jazz-Age city, a modern-day Babylonwith similar temptations: drinking, women, and gambling. Early in the poem,Johnson refers to boxing, a popular sport among the African Americancommunity in the first half on the th century.7 1 I t i s c lear that this poem is atransformation of the old myth, a relocation of the story into a modern settingand context . Thi s process is discussed by Campbell in h asks ofGod:Primitive ythology

...a mythological process--seldom mentioned in the textbooks ofour subject but of considerable force and importance nevertheless-to which the late Dr. Ananda Coomaraswarmy referred asland nama land-naming or land-taking. Through landn m ... the features of a newly entered land are assimilated by animmigrant people to its imported heritage of myth.72

Goeser, 207.71 Johnson, 21.7 Joseph Campbell, The sks ofGod: Primitive Mythology New York: Penguin, 1991),199.


42/69


43/69

7mind inherited from the collective unconscious. Douglas s choice of amodern setting for the scene creates an immediate relevance to the viewer andallows easy access to the symbols that will then access the archetypes that cancommunicate the mythic importance of the parable

Figure The Prodigal Son


44/69

A distinction should be made here concerning Jung s terminologyabout the psychology of myth. In Jung s interpretative labeling, archetypes arenot themselves pictures but rather the inclination to form them in typical ways.Symbols are the actual pictures formed ... Each archetype requires an infinitenumber of symbols. 75 An archetype, for example , could be the hero on a quest.The symbol of this would be Odysseus. Further, archetypes are transmitted byheredity; symbols, by acculturation. Archetypes are the same universally;symbols vary from culture to culture. 76 The human race has an inherentconcept of the hero s journey . Odysseus was a symbol of that archetype for theGreeks, Rama was a hero for India s Vedic tradition, Jonah s adventures in thedigestive tract of a whale exemplified the Christian version of the hero s journeyinto the unknown.

Johnson and Douglas are working with symbols . The s tori es Johnsonrecounts in his poems (Noah and the flood, the creation of the world, Mosesleading the Jews out of Egypt, etc. are all myths, full of the Christian symbolsfor universal archetypes. Douglas takes these verbal symbols and translatesthem into images. The artistic interpretations also function to stimulate theunconscious and allow it to access the archetypal databank. The viewerbeholds only the symbols. The associations and subsequent meanings all occuron an unconscious level.

The universal experience of death and loss i s explored in Johnson s nextpoem, Go own eath FuneralSermon The poem tells of God s summoning

7 Ibid., 40.7 Ibid.


45/69

39of the angel of death to go down to earth and collect a woman to take her torest with Jesus in Heaven. Again in the text we are presented with imagery oflight and dark and with references to shadows. God calls upon Death, his voicereached away back to that shadowy place,/Where Death waits with his pale,white horses 22-3 . Death r ides a white horse and he lives in the dark, in theshadows. This is the same con tras t s een in The Creation when light and darkseparate into the coexisting night and day. Also, the shadow is uti lized as asymbol of the unknown, feared, repressed part of life. No one knows whatdeath is like, most don t spend much time dwelling on thoughts of death andwhat is involved after the las t breathe leaves the body. Even the poem showsthe reluctance and denial expressed around the concept of death. The poemends with Weep not-weep not,/She is not dead;/She s resting in the bosom ofJesus 77-9 . Death remains a shadow, repressed and avoided, even when it isclearly the destination of the deceased.

The image Douglas created for Go Down Death A Funeral Sennon wasthe only one in the series that did not contain a human figure (Figure 9). Thisillustration is filled with movement and anticipation, drawing the viewer intothe poem that followed. The background is dark. Concentric, circulargeometric forms fill the bottom of the illustration. The largest circle appearsvolumetric and thus resembles a keystone in an arch. This could be aninterpretation of the pearly gates that Death r ides out of on his way to collectSister Caroline 45). Douglas adapted the traditional imagery of the gates to hisown geometric, Art Deco style. Above them, highlighted by a beam of light, iswinged Death galloping across the picture on his horse. Streaking along with


46/69

40Death as described in the poem the foam from the horse was like a cometin the sky 48 . The f igures of Death and of his horse are indistinct; Death isassociated in the poem with darkness and the horse is pale white 23 and yetDouglas blends the forms into one grey-toned shadow. In death thedistinctions and dichotomies of life are nonexistent. The conjoined shape ofDeath and his mount are placed in front of a striking contrast between lightand dark. A wide beam of white light radiates out from the lower left side of thepicture punctuating the black background i n t he upper half of the image.Again the pair ing of l ight and darkness is emphasized; the two coexistentsections are linked by the shadow figure incorporated into both visual fields.


47/69


48/69

42next poem and corresponding image, Noah Built the rk would have beenespecially significant to an African American reader. The story of Noah wasfrequently cited as Biblical justification for slavery, prejudice, and oppression ofblack people. Noah, after having safely steered the ark to dry land, planted avineyard, and subsequently passed out d runk and naked. His son Ham, th efathe r ofCanaan, saw him and told his brothers about it. His brothers, hidingtheir eyes, went and covered him with a ga rment. Because Ham had seen h imnaked, Noah cursed Ham s descendants to be servant[s] of servants, or slavesGen. 9:20-27). White oppressors argued that black people, believed to be thedescendants of Ham, were intended for slavery by God,77 This Biblical cursewas also used in folktales to l ink black people to th e Jews, another persecutedgroup,78 While the t ex t o f the poem Noah Built the Ark related the story ofNoah building the a rk and waiting out the deluge, the African Americanreaders, who were by-and-Iarge Chris tian , would be well aware of the episodethat followed this scene in th e Bible. The racial significance was implicit.

On a mythic level, any reference to waters, a deluge, or flooding is asymbol. In general, water is associated with regeneration or transformation.According to Campbell, the concept ofwate r in myth is intimately linked withthe process of birth or rebirth:

In the imagery of mythology and religion this b ir th or more oftenrebirth) theme is extremely prominent; in fact, every thresholdpassage .. .i s comparable to a birth and h as been rituallyrepresented, practically everywhere, through an imagery of re-

Goeser, 215. Nella Larsen, assing Norton Critical Edition New York: Norton and Company,2007), 19.


49/69

entry into the womb. This is one of those mythological universalsthat surely merit interpretation rather from a psychological thanfrom an ethnological point ofview,79

Th e flood in the Biblical t al e w ip ed a wa y the sins a nd sinners on earth that Go dfound so offensive and allowed the earth to start over, to be reborn withanother chance to r ea lize its positive potential. As the New Negro movementwas oriented around re-creating the i ma ge o f African Americans and erasing thenegative stereotypes and attitudes that were common for the time Johnson sinclusion of this mythic metaphor of the Biblical deluge is highly appropriate.

Douglas s accompanying image o h Built the Ark is filled with activityan d no water Figure 10 . A massive ark occupies most of the picture plane. Atthe prow of the ship is the figure of Noah directing the l oading of the vessel.Animals walk up a ramp into the belly of the ark while Noah s sons loads up pl ie s. B ir ds fly in from the right and lightning streaks down on the left sideof the picture hinting at the rapidly approaching storm. Light shines downfrom the heavens highlighting Noah and the pair of a ni ma ls . T he se animalsappear to be lions or some form of bi g cat which would be a clear reference toAfrica. Douglas s selection of an animal indigenous to Africa as well as sacredto many African religions and thus to ancestors of African Americans connectsthe Christian myth to universal m yt hi c t ra di ti on s. T he collective unconsciousis o nc e again bei ng vis ual ly t ri ggered by his selection of sym bo ls. In the bottomright corner a dark shadow profile of a m an observes th e scene before him a

79 Campbell Primitive Mythology 61 2.


50/69

figure it has been speculated perhaps intended to represent author JamesWeldon Johnson

Figure 1 Noah Built the Ark

80 irschke aron Douglas 1


51/69

45The figures in Noah uilt th e rk are all portrayed in Douglas s

Egyptian-style silhouettes with West African slit eyes. These figures againconnect the viewer to the idea of the shadow self, while they also continue theartistic theme of converting Biblical figures into African people. Wi th Noahshown as a black man, along with al l of his sons, the s tory of Ham asjustification for prejudice is countered . The racial recasting of the Christiancharacters also places Noah s act of salvation of the human race in th e hands ofa black man. For Douglas, Goeser writes, African Americans needed toreconceive religious tradition, creating Christian gods in the ir own image.Douglas himselfwrote in a letter to poet Langston Hughes, Let s also makegods. Black gods. Disconcert ingly black. Variat ions of black. 81 Throughoutthese illustrations, Douglas did just that. He erased the popular notions of aBible populated by white characters and, in so doing, he also broadened thescope of the transformation.

The next poem in the series cen te rs on the las t n ight of and thecrucifixion of Jesus. The rucifl ion begins with Jesus walking in the gardenbefore being betrayed by Judas and follows the subsequent events up to thepoint of Jesus s death on the cross. Throughout the poem settings aredescribed as dark, again emphasizing the presence of darkness in the worldas a counterpart to lightness. Johnson introduces Jesus as he is walking inthe dark of the Garden 2 and praying in the dark of the Garden 10 . Judasenters the scene sneaking through the dark of the Garden 27). He isdescribed as black-hearted 26 . Johnson places both Jesus, the human Goeser, 220.


52/69

46embodiment of the light of God, and J udas the epitome of man s capability tocommit evil, dark deeds in a context containing both light and dark. T he w hi teof Jesus in the black garden and the black heart of Judas in the l ig ht o f a life asa devoted disciple create a complete yin-yang symbol. Both a re n e it he r whollyd ar k n or wholly light; their interaction exemplifies the required coexistence ofd ar k a nd light in the world.

Douglas s illustration for he rucifvcion brings t h e c on tr as t of d ar k a ndlight again into a visual demonstration while als o cr eat ing an artistic emphasison the role of a black man S im o n o f C yr en e Figure 11 . The cross is vibrantblack a white beam of light shines down past it. Th e figure of Jesus so vividlywhite it is hard to d is ti ng ui sh b y t he viewer, i s f ra me d by black silhouettes of aRoman soldier an d his horse. Simon is done in a dark grey. The contrastscreate a visually balanced composition while symbolically reminding theaudience that darkness and light co-exist and are p re se nt i n e ac h of us.


53/69

Figure The Cruciftxion

Douglas s interpretation of this processional scene inverted thetraditional Christian iconography. The haloed f tg ur e o f J e s u s is placed justbelow the center of the picture silhouetted in white. J es us while normally


54/69

48portrayed as the main subject of his crucifIXion in Western artistic tradition,is one of the smallest figures in Douglas s scene. Towering above him, fillingthe picture plane from left to right and almost top to bottom is the figure ofSimon of Cyrene, the b lack man who carried Christ s cross for him. Simon,done in a dark grey shadow form, drags the cross along in both of his arms a she looks up towards heaven, his brow seemingly furrowed in the effort of thetask. Light shines down from above, landing on Jesus , and concentric tonalcircles radiate out from the figure of Christ, but the focus is on Simon. Thespears that poke in from the edges of the illustration point beyond the figure ofChrist to Simon above him. Douglas highl ight s Simon as a concurrent symbol,along with Jesus, of suffering, linking Christ s sacrifice to the struggles enduredby African Americans.

In both the verse and the image, the role of a black Biblical characterwas emphasized. Douglas visually highlighted him and Johnson s ta te s .. . theyl ay hold on Simon,/Black Simon, yes, black Simon;/They put the cross onSimon,/And Simon bore the cross 58-61). The audience would receivereinforcement in image and in verse of the importance of this black man in thestory of Jesus becoming Christ. As a way of combating the racistinterpretations of Christian stories, some African American Biblical scholarsinterpreted the Bible to highlight the roles of characters described as beingAfrican or dark-skinned, su ch a s one of the Magi in the Chris tmas story orSimon of Cyrene.83 This approach was known as Ethiopianism, which African

Goeser, 218.83 Ibid., 212.


55/69

theologians began to develop around the turn of the 19 th cen tury . Passagesthat indicated a rise to power for Africa were also cited. Psalm 68 prophesizedPrinces shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her handsunto God (Psalms 68:31). The ideas of Ethiopianism, which Douglas hads tudied through the work of Edward Blyden, were incorporated into slavenarratives and Negro sermons.

The next sermon and illustration, et eople o tell the t ale ofMosesand the Exodus out of slavery in Egypt. This tale of the end of slavery and thesalvation of a group of people was a popular one in the African Americanchurch, for obvious reasons. The story and even the phrase let my people gowere utilized by African American activists well into the 1960 s Civil RightsMovement. The local cultural context is implicit, as it is a s tory of triumph overdiscrimination and oppression. Darkness again plays a part in the story andalso in Johnson s selection of imagery. In th e Biblical story, there are plaguesvisited upon the Egyptians, including a plague of darkness. Darkness in thissituation is filled with fear and the unknown, the potential for horrendousdanger. These qualities in a human are al l associated with the shadow self.Later in the poem, Johnson chooses to incorporate darkness once again, and inthat description, he expands the negative aspects of the dark onto allparticipants in the tale. As Moses and th e J ews flee through the Red Sea, theyare chased by the Pharaoh and his army. Johnson describes the scene as thus:Now the Children ofIsrael, looking back,ISaw Pharaoh s army coming. l nthe rumble of the chariots was like a thunder storm, And the whirring of the

Ibid. 215.


56/69

50wheels was like a rushing wind /And the dust from the horses made a cloudthat darked the day 155-59). In these lines Johnson casts the oppressors asthe creators of darkness. The darkness the shadow is inherent; everyone hasa part of themselves that they repress for various reasons. The use of darknessin association with both the oppressed and the oppressors may have functionedto highlight the common aspects of both groups demonstrating equalitybetween them.

In the accompanying image Douglas again plays with the interaction oflight and dark Figure 12). The figures are all portrayed in shadow profile form.Given the setting of the poem the Egyptian style that Douglas appropriated isperfectly fitting. The gradations of dark and light are applied to accent th ecommonality of darkness in al l groups of people. The soldiers and their horsesare done in black s ilhouet tes. The Jews on the lower right-hand side crossingthrough the parted Red Sea are done in the same shade. While the viewer mayhave positive associations with those fleeing and negative associations withthose pursuing both are identical in their darkness. All people have shadowselves a part of the unconscious that cannot be pigeonholed into good orbad.


57/69

Figure 2 Let My People o

In t opl o D ou gl as a ls o t oo k his i nt er es t i n Ethiopianism onestep further and visually recast Biblical characters generally thought of as whiteas black. In this picture Douglas depicted al l the figures Moses along wit hthe Pharaoh s soldiers as black men. The soldiers shown in dark silhouette


58/69

52an d wearing Egyptian headdresses are being swall ow ed by th e stylizedc ur ve s o f the Re d Sea as it crashed back upon itself The figure of Moses alsosilhouetted kneels on the other side looking u p t o h ea ve n a n d b at he d in a holyray of light. His arms reach out to the sides a practice seen in AfricanAmerican church worship waiting to e m br ac e t h e Holy Spirit.85 Douglas notonly references Africa with his Egyptian and Western African stylisticborrowings an d his casting of Moses as a b la ck m a n b u t he also referencescontemporary African American experience utilizing worshipping practicescommon in th e African American church. This image activates multiplecontextual realms in the minds of th e audience.

The final poem i n th is sequence i s e n ti tl ed h Judgment Day an d tells ofth e e nd o f d ay s when Go d and J e s u s call souls to them and place t he m i nHeaven or in Hell for the rest of eternity. The end of the world nicely roundsout th e e nd of the book which h ad begun with The reation mirroring th elayout of the tales in th e Bible The use oflight a nd d ar k i n t hi s poem is fairlypredictable and traditional: light and w h it en e ss a r e illustrative of the contentsof Heaven and Hell is depicted black and dark. These a r e a s so c ia t io n s t h a tw ou ld b e archetypically appropriate. Both light a nd d ar k are present at th ebeginning of the world and at its ending. T hey coexist throughout th ep r og r es s io n o f s t or ie s as they coexist in each person s psyche. The associationsof th e tw o sides in th is p oe m a re not innovative b u t they do reinforce the motifand message s e en t h ro u g h ou t Johnson s words.

85 Ibid 224


59/69

Douglas s final image in th e collection was for h u gment y

Figure 13 This image is filled with the figure of the angel Gabriel blowing histrumpet. H is l eg s s p a n the entire space and his wings extend beyond theframe. He is p r es e nt e d i n dark silhouette. Concentric circles radiate from theground and rays o f ligh t shine from the to p edge. Smaller figures, also inshadow form, cower beneath Gabriel s figure, while one kneels, armsoutstretched on the right. T hi s i s a reference to the African American churchpractice of wor shi pper s r ais i ng their hands to receive God s spirit. Through thisimage, the viewer can see that in Douglas s eyes the angels w e re b lac k . Theprominence of light shades at the to p of the image a n d d ar ke r s ha de s towardsthe bottom reinforces the a ss oc ia ti on f ou n d i n the poem an d in the mythict ra d it io n o f Heaven containing lightness an d Hell containing darkness.


60/69

5

Figure 3 The Judgment Day

Jung believed both art and language were symbols of activity within ourinner selves within our souls. He stated that language . is s imply a system ofsigns and symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human


61/69

soul 86 In a work like this an illustrated book of poetry Jung would haveanalyzed both the images and the tex t with an interactive approach. While thisthesis is an examination of the images Douglas created the pictures would notexist without the text. The subject matter of each may have been addressed byDouglas in his artistic career at some point but the group of images in acertain order with certain themes is completely dependant upon the text.Taken together they enhance and reinforce one another .

The psychology of creative work is bound to mythological experience andthinking. Words and images evoke symbols which represent archetypes.Archetypes are the letters of the mythic language of humanity. Communicationof universal themes requires a universal language. It is therefore to beexpected argued Jung tha t the poet will turn to mythological figures in orderto give suitable expression to his experience 87 Johnson expressed himselfthrough the s tories ofChristian myth an ancient tradition of myth making.Throughout these poems the pairing of light and dark as well as the use of theshadow as a symbol is noticeable. In the illustrations they are not onlynoticeable but the dominant feature. Obviously there i s not a single meaningto any work of art whether in pictorial or linguistic form. I am presenting onepossibility of the meaning behind this book a possibility heretofore unexplored.

The stories are myths; this requires no argument as they are directlydrawn from the Biblical and Christian traditions. Johnson himself begins thework with an explanation of their source: the African American Christian

8 Carl Jung cited in Segal 111.8 Ibid. 179.


62/69

church. The p oe ms a re Christian myth being re-voiced by a HarlemRenaissance poet. T h is s el ec ti on o f material enabled Johnson to connect withan ancient mythic tradition. While he was an e xa mp le o f the New Negro an d aproponent of the movement s agenda Johnson reached a broader audience byutilizing core Western myths. As Dougl as s i mages are illustrations of thism y th ic s u bj e ct m a tt er he to o had access to a la rg er a ud ie nc e. A nd the strictlyvisual nature of these works could provide an even broader forum for exampleto an audience that was illiterate. The us e of myth in od sTrombones createda broad stage on which the varied meanings of the w or k c o ul d b e a cc es se d andexplored.

Once t he m in ds of the audience were stimulated by the mythi c s tor iesan d familiar symbols the underlying archetypes c ou ld b e accessed to enablethe communication of d ee pe r m ea ni ng . T hi s is where t h e r e cu r re n t idea of theshadow c om e s i nt o play. In the pictures t h e s ha do w becomes real in thesilhouetted forms of Dougl as s i magi nat ion. The figures in the i ma ge s a re basedo n a rt is ti c t ec hn iq ue that utilized shadows to create pictures. T h ey l oo k like aperson s shadow placed within a p ic tu r e p l an e laced with the interplay of lighta nd d ar k tones. Th e contrasts of light a nd d ark a nd the us e of the shadow areomnipresent in Douglas s illustrations. They are important elements to theinterpretations of the works although t hey are n ot necessarily interdependentor mutually informing.

In J u ng i an t ho u gh t a n d analysis t he s ha do w is the part of the self thathas been repressed ignored or abused. is u n wan ted unpredictable andundesirable. is not a g re at l ea p t o l oo k at t h e a tt i tu d es of much of whit e


63/69

57American society during the Harlem Renaissance in regards to blacks and seet he sa me treatment. Ever since the first slaves arrived in America AfricanAmericans have been treated maliciously oppressed neglected feared anddegraded. If America was metaphorically a person African Ameri cans could beviewed as the shadow of that self The dark side of a person the shadow is auniversal archetype lying within the collective u nc on sc io us p r es e nt i n al lhumans. Douglas utilized this symbol. cannot be determined if it was adeliberate or unconscious act b u t either way the use of that symbol is relevant.

The New Negro movement stated in its goals that art should be used tocreate a n e w r ac ia l identity one that w as p ro ud and equal to the racial identityof white Americans. Art would show the capabilities of African Americans theinherent goodness wi thi n them the dignity that they have and should betreated with. Art would a d dr e ss t he h o rr e nd o us t r ea t me n t oft en best owed uponthe African American community and seek to amend it Douglas s images usedthe shadow symbol. By placing this powerful s ymbol wit hin the context of amythic tradition of the Western world Douglas symbolically asserts AfricanAmerican s right to be an equal part of t h is c ul tu re and c om mu ni ty . T he i de al se xp ou nd ed b y the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance wer e cert ai nly beingillustrated i n t he se images.

God s Trombones Seven Negro Sermons in Verse contained beautifulfertile poetry and vivid inspiring images. What e ac h p er so n t ak es away fromthis complex work of art i s u n iq u e b ut it can be said that both J oh ns on a ndDouglas created moving vehicles for communicating their ideas and the form


64/69

8these communic tions took en bled them to echo out into the micro nd the

m crocosm of our world


65/69

59

BIBLIOGRAPHYAter Renee. Creating a Usable Past and a Future Perfect Society : Aaron

Douglas s Murals for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. In AaronDouglas: African American Modernist edited by Susan Earle, 95-114.New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press , 2007.Authentic History Center. Stereotypes of African Americans: Essays and

Images. The Authentic History Center. http://www.authentichistory.com/ diversity/ african/engravings/O l .html (accessed February 18,2010).

Baker, Jr., Houston Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Bearden, Romare and Harry Henderson. A History ofAfrican American Artistsfrom 1792 to the Present. New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.Benton, Charlotte, Tim Benton, and Ghislaine Wood, eds. Art Deco 1910-1939.

London: Victoria and Albert Publications, 2003.Blake, Jody. Le Tumulte oir Modernist Art and Popular Entertainment in

Jazz Age Paris 1900-1930. University Park, P.A.: Pennsylvania StateUniversity Press, 1999.

Calo, Mary Ann. Distinction and Denial: Race Nation and the CriticalConstruction of the African American Artist 1920-1940. Ann Arbor, M.I.:University of Michigan Press, 2007.

Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York: Penguin,1991.The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York: Penguin, 1991.Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation ed. DavidKudler. Novato C.A.: New World Library, 2004.

Driskell, David C. Some Observations on Aaron Douglas as Tastemaker in theRenaissance Movement. In Aaron Douglas: African American Modernistedi ted by Susan Earle, 87-94. Ne w Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press,2007.


66/69

6DuBois, W E B The Souls ofBlack Folk. Norton Critical Edition. Edited by

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Terri Hume Oliver New York: Norton, 1999.Earle, Susan, ed . aronDouglas: African mericanModernist. New Haven,

C T : Yale University Press , 2007.Eisele, Jennifer. Multicultural Resource Center. Saint Paul Public Schools.http:j jwww.mrc.spps.org accessed November 9, 2009).Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. and Karen C Dalton. Josephine Baker and La RevueNegre: Paul Colin s Lithographs ofLe Tumulte Noir in Paris 1927. New

York Harry N Abrams, 1998.Gray, Richard T bout Face: German Physiognomic Thoughtfrom Lavater to

uschwitz Detroit: Wayne State University Press , 2004.Goeser, Caroline. Picturing the New Negro: Harlem Renaissance Print Cultureand Modem Black Identity. Lawrence, K S : University of Kansas Press,

2007.Guillaume, Paul and Thomas Munro. Primitive Negro Sculpture. London:Jonathan Cape, Ltd 1926.Harris, Michael D Colored Pictures: Race and Visual Representation. Chapel

Hill N C : University of North Carolina Press, 2003.The Hayward Gallery and the Institute ofInternational Visual Arts, London.

Rhapsodies in Black: rtof the Harlem Renaissance Berkeley, C A :University of California Press, 1997.Hutchinson, George. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White. Cambridge,

M A : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995.Johnson, James Weldon. The Book of mericanNegro Spirituals. New York:

Viking Press, 1933. God s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. New York: PenguinBooks, 1990.

God s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. Documenting th eAmerican South, 2004. http:j jdocsouth.unc.edujsouthlitjjohnsonjjohnson.html accessed September 14 2009).Jung, C G The Collected Works ofe G Jung: Aion Vol 9, Part II Edited by Si r

Herbert Read, Michael Fordham, Gerhard Adler and William McGuire.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966.


67/69

6

. The Collected Works of e G Jung: Psychology and Religion: West andEast Vol. 11. Edited by Sir Herbert Read Michael Fordham GerhardAdler, and William McGuire. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press1966.The History and Psychology of a Natural Symbol. In The CollectedWorks of e G. Jung ol 11 Psychology and Religion: West and EastEdited by Sir Herbert Read Michael Fordham Gerhard Adler, WilliamMcGuire 64-105. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press 1966.Memories Dreams and Reflections Edited by Aniela Jaffe translatedby Richard and Clara Winston. New York: Pantheon 1962 . Picasso. In The Spirit in Man Art and Literature translated by RF.C.Hull 135-141. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press 1972. . On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry. In The Spirit inMan Art and Literature translated by RF.C. Hull, 65-83. PrincetonN.J.: Princeton University Press 1972.The Spirit in Man Art and Literature Trans. RF.C. Hull. PrincetonN.J.: Princeton University Press 1972.

Kirschke Amy Helene. aronDouglas: Art Race and the Harlem RenaissanceJackson M.S.: University Press of Missis

harris anne the shadow of self

Documents