“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
Entrance photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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
“Portraits and Archetypes” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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
“Portraits and Archetypes” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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
“Nights in Bronzeville” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
“Nights in Bronzeville” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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
“Between Acts” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
“Hokum” 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 the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy Whitney Museum
“Caliente” section. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary
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