“Archibald Motley offers a fascinating glimpse into a modernity filtered through the colored lens and foci of a subjective African American urban perspective. Fusing psychology, a philosophy of race, upheavals of class demarcations, and unconventional optics, Motley’s art wedged itself between, on the one hand, a Jazz Age set of iconographic cultural passages, and on the other hand, an American version of Weimar Germany.” — Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Dean of Humanities at Duke University and curator of exhibition

Archibald J. Motley Jr (1891-1981). Self-Portrait (Myself at Work), 1933. Oil on canvas, 57.125 x 45.25 inches (145.1 x 114.9 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Mulatress with Figurine and Dutch Seascape, c. 1920. Oil on canvas, 31.375 x 27.625 inches (79.7 x 75.6 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Portrait of a Woman on a Wicker Settee, 1931. Oil on canvas, 38 3/4 x 31 1/4 inches (98.4 x 79.4 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Nude (Portrait of My Wife), 1930. Oil on canvas, 48 1/4 × 23 1/2 in. (122.6 × 59.7 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Portrait of Mrs. A.J. Motley, Jr., 1930. Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 × 32 in. (100.3 × 81.3 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Left: “Paris Blues” section. Right: “Nights in Bronzeville” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Café, Paris, 1929 Oil on canvas 23 5/8 × 28 7/8 in. (60 × 73.3 cm) Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Blues, 1929. Oil on canvas, 36 x 42 inches (91.4 x 106.7 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Gettin’ Religion, 1948. Oil on canvas, 40 x 48.375 inches (101.6 x 122.9 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Café, Paris, 1929. Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 × 28 7/8 in. (60 × 73.3 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

Hot Rhythm, 1961. Oil on canvas, 40 × 48 3/8 in. (101.6 × 122.9 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum

The First One Hundred Years: He Amongst You Who is Without Sin Shall Cast the First Stone; Forgive Them Father For They Know Not What They Do, c. 1963–72 Oil on canvas 48 7/8 × 40 3/4 in. (124.1 × 103.5 cm) Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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