biographie de Aaron DOUGLAS (1899-1979)

Birth place: Topeka, KS.

Death place: Nashville, TN

Addresses: NYC, 1923-25; Nashville, TN

Profession: Mural painter, painter, printmaker, illustrator, educator

Studied: Univ. of Kansas, AB, 1923; Univ. Nebr., BFA, 1922; Columbia Univ. Teachers Coll. (MA); Barnes Fndtn, c.1927-28; L'Académie Scandinave; with Despiau, Waroquier, Frieze (1931), W. Reiss.

Work: Fisk Univ. Lib. (mural); Bennett College; UC Berkeley; Sherman Hotel, Chicago; NYPL(mural); YMCA, 135th Street Branch, NYC(mural); Yale Univ.; priv. colls.

Comments: A leading black artist of the early Harlem Renaissance, he combined elements of his African heritage with contemporary painting styles. Teaching: Lincoln High School, Kansas City; Fisk Univ., 1937-39 (later founded Fisk's Art Dept. and served as chairmn. for 29 years). Illust., Crisis; God's Trombone, 1927, by James W. Johnson, Countee Cullen's Caroling Dusk, Paul Moran's Black Magic, Langston Hughes' The Negro Speaks of Rivers and others. His African design inspired drawings appeared in Crisis, Opportunity and other magazines.

Sources: WW40; Cederholm, Afro-American Artists; Driskell, Hidden Heritage, 41-43; 300 Years of American Art, 888; Baigell, Dictionary