“A picture is worth a thousand words,” is a common thought of art examiners. Nonetheless, people may not realize that art’s words extend beyond the canvas. A painting converses with an admirer about its artistic qualities, but it says much more. The words a painting evokes describe the social, economic, and political conditions of its time. Aspiration (1936) (Figure 1), a piece created in the United States by native Aaron Douglas, follows this ideology. This piece not only portrays Douglas’ own African-American heritage but also the wider political, economic, and artistic values of the first half of the twentieth century.
After World War I, the world questioned humanity with a sense of nihilism. The war mandated soldiers of various countries to kill the enemy in a survivalist manner. Thus, the hopelessness of public sentiment after the war created a desire to destroy the current culture. Artists of all genres thought a cultural renovation would leave the tragic memories of the war behind (Warner Marien & Fleming, 2005). Two different styles of art attempted to create a new culture in their own ways. Many artists searched for a language that individuals understood universally.
They thought the use of color and abstract, eometric shapes accomplished this feat (Warner Marien & Fleming, 2005). Warner Marien and Fleming (2005) discuss how the styles of dada, photomontage, suprematism, and surrealism used this artistic approach. All of these artistic movements would influence the use of greater abstraction during the Abstract Expressionism period in the 1940s (Warner Marien & Fleming, 2005). Contrary to these art forms, some artists returned to using Neoclassical and Greek influences to remember the times of an honorable culture.
The Harlem Renaissance mimicked how, according to philosopher Alain Locke, “Western cultures [looked] to Greece” (as cited in Warner Marien & Fleming, 2005, p. 588). Douglas was a predominant participant in the Harlem Renaissance. As seen in Aspiration (1936), Douglas addresses a return to African culture. Although the United States, a first-world country, struggled economically after World War I because of the Great Depression, Warner Marien and Fleming (2005) note that Douglas received a commission from the government in 1934 to promote African-American history.
The Work’s Progress Administration’s support of public art projects like Douglas’ emonstrates it was supportive of the Harlem Renaissance and the new embrace of culture after World War I. Aspiration (1936) depicts three elevated individuals, two males and one female, looking and moving onward towards a technologically advanced society of tall buildings and factories. They are moving toward this future, which Douglas painted under a star’s resounding light, with the tools of education.
The book in the woman’s hand, the ruler and compass in the man’s hands, and the globe on the far left foreground signifies how these individuals are taking their knowledge with them into an industrialized society. Douglas employs the use of geometric angles throughout the skyline, which coincides with the post-World War I idea of using shape as a common language. Yet, his piece is primarily naturalistic in a variety of ways. Naturalistic painters adhere to a number of techniques that future Abstract Expressionists wanted to disregard.
Douglas, however, used some of the naturalistic techniques in Aspiration (1936). Formal or color balance is a quality of naturalistic art (Conrad, 2016a). Even though Aspiration (1936) is not symmetrical around a horizontal or vertical line, it does have color balance. The dark shades of purple in the lower left foreground balance the lighter shades of purple and yellow on the right side of the piece. Although these colors balance each other, the use of purple and pink tones throughout the piece creates a sense of unity.
Hieratic is a type of perspective evident in naturalistic art (Conrad, 2016a). This piece is hieratic because Douglas painted the three moving individuals on a platform above the enslaved individuals. Douglas used many naturalistic techniques in Aspiration (1936). These methods helped convey a clear message to viewers, especially African Americans. One of the prominent messages of Aspiration (1936) is the distance between those who are free and those who are enslaved. While the three main figures travel to an advanced society, they leave behind those who are who are in chains.
The ethnicities of these two economic classes are not completely clear, but the viewer can assume the painting contrasts the social positions of enslaved African Americans and free whites. Douglas was a prominent African-American leader of the Harlem Renaissance (Coleman, n. d. ). In addition, he painted the hands of the slaves with a darker tone than the bodies of the ndividuals that are free. While this painting was effective in renewing awareness of the plight of the African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, the idea that Douglas did not give the people a definite ethnicity allows the work to last beyond its time.
Experts identify Aspiration (1936) as belonging to the era between World War I and World War II when the Harlem Art Renaissance occurred. I believe, however, that this work’s message is also applicable to the political ideologies of both world wars. The African-American struggle occurred because whites enhanced their superiority over them through their nslavement. One group attempting to enforce its superiority and authority over another was also the main point of contention that lead to both world wars.
One of the central causes of World War I was nationalism and people’s desire to have a ruler of the same culture and geographical area. In fact, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June of 1914. This event armed all of the nation alliances for war (Conrad, 2016c). Fascism and Nazism were the root causes of World War II because they promoted a sense of pan-nationalism and a need to rid society of anyone ho was not a certain nationality.
Mussolini, who rose to power in Italy in 1922, and Hitler, who became politically active in Germany in the 1930s, believed this action was necessary to create an ideal society (Conrad, 2016b). Douglas’ Aspiration (1936) does not sympathize specifically with Mussolini and Hitler’s ideologies. Yet, the power struggle the painting depicts between an enslaved people and people moving forward without them is pertinent to the world war eras. In fact, it is still relevant today. The original Aspiration (1936) is currently located in the United
States at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (Spencer Museum of Art: The University of Kansas, 2007). Although Arron Douglas’ name is not as famous as Salvador Dali’s or Pablo Picasso’s, Aspiration (1936) still relates to today. As the world becomes more advanced and majority groups continue to journey with it, minority groups still have to fight for their rights. There remain power struggles between people of difference races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities. The modern relatability of Aspiration (1936) continues to make its message effective and appealing to many people, including yself.
I initially choose this piece because while it does adhere to some abstraction techniques of the coming time, it still has a concrete message. Now, I have discovered that the message behind Aaron Douglas’ Aspiration (1936) contains many powerful words that go beyond the canvas. These words endorse the need for society’s cultural shift after World War I. They also indirectly protest the political ideology of oppression beginning to consume Europe in the 1920s and 1930s before World War II. While this picture may speak a thousand words about history, it speaks as many words about today.