Urban Entertainment During Prohibition---> Saturday Night (1935)

What American venues for popular entertainment appeared in American cities in the 1920s?

Dance halls, speakeasies, theaters, cafes, and more

Where was Archibald John Motley Jr born?

New Orleans

When was Motley born?

1891

Where didi Motley’s family relocate when he was 3?

Chicago

When did Motley’s family move to Chicago?

1894

Where did Motleys mother work?

As a teacher

Where did Motleys father work?

In a buffet car

Who told Motley stories about their time as an enslaved person?

Motleys maternal grandmother

Where was Motleys first experience with racism?

While traveling through the south with his father in 1918

Rather than being contemporary, Motleys major influences were what?

Historical

What did Motley prefer as opposed to abstract art?

“old masters” and Ashcan artists

Motleys early 1920s work is painted in what style?

Naturalistic academic style

Motleys work from the early 1920s focused on portraits of what?

The cities affluent African American community

Within the African American community, who did Motley tend too focus his attention on?

Light skinned, mixed race women, whom he depicted as delicate, genteel, and pretty

What paintings of Motleys depicts his attention to light-skinned mixed raced women?

Mulatress with Figurine and Dutch Seascape (1920) and Octaroon Girl (1925)

Octaroon Girl earned Motley what?

A medal from the Harmon Foundation

What was the Harmon Foundation?

A white run philanthropic organization supporting Black artists

What was Motley interested in throughout his life?

The varieties of skin color and physiognomy he found in Black communities

Motleys preference for painting people with lighter skin had led to questions about what?

Whether motley was embracing or critiquing colorism

What is colorism?

Communities of color showing cultural preferences for individuals with lighter skin

What did Motley himself identify as?

Creole

Where did the term Creole come from?

Louisiana

What was the term Creole used for?

Describing a mixed race person with both African and French ancestry

What ethnicity was Motleys wife?

Italian

Where did Motley live?

In a mostly white neighborhood in Chicago

What was Motley committed to painting?

Diversities of appearance, skin tone, experience, and class identity

What did Motley challenge?

The periods stereotypical notions of “monolithic blackness”

Who did Motley win a fellowship from?

The Guggenheim Foundation

When did Motley win a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation?

1929

What did Motley use the Guggenheim fellowship for?

He used it to travel to Paris where he stayed for a year

What was the biggest impact that Motleys trip to Paris had on his career?

He started to represent the modern nightlife of bars and clubs, rather than upscale domestic interiors

What happened to Motleys color palette during his time in France?

It became saturated with brilliant turquoise, pink, and acid-green hues

The vibrancy of the expatriate Black American and Afro French communities in Paris is expressed in work like what?

Blues

When was Blues made?

1929

What does Blues represent?

Le Bal Negre in Paris

Le Bal Negre features what music?

West Indian

The West Indian music of Le Bal Negre catered to who?

Black patrons from the United States, the Caribbean, and Francophone countries in West Africa

When did Motley return to Chicago?

1930

After retuning to Chicago what did Motley increasingly incorporate into his works?

Influences from popular music, dance, and nightlife

What did Motley paint upon his return to Chicago?

Carabet’s, pool halls, and dance clubs

Where was Saturday Night most likely painted?

In Washington D.C.

When was Saturday Night painted?

1935

Where did Motley have a teaching residency?

At Howard University

What is the color palette of Saturday Night?

Bold reds set against shades of brown, black, and gray

What energy does the color palette of Saturday Night create?

A vibrant energy

How do the figure contribute to the vibrant energy of Saturday Night?

They are restless

Who performs a dramatic dance in Saturday Night?

A woman in a short red dress and daring high heels

Where are the musicians located in Saturday Night?

The upper right corner

What do the musicians in Saturday Night play?

Piano, saxophones, and drums

The rushing figures of two waiters expresses what?

Lively energy

What are the waiters wearing?

White jackets

What do the waiters in Saturday Night carry?

A laden tray of drinks

Motleys interweaving and overlapping of figures throughout the composition create what?

A human rhythm to match the musics syncopated beat

How the the dancer move?

She leans dramatically back with an outstretched arm

The outstretched arm of the dancer in Saturday Night is echoed by what?

A man drinking from a cocktail glass

The tilt of the girl dancing in Saturday Night is counterbalanced by what?

One of the waiters

The bass in the music of Saturday Night is echoed by what?

The rhythmic movements of the people in the scene

What does Denise Murrell describe Motleys Saturday Night as?

The African American community presenting itself as they saw themselves

The new entertainments that Saturday Night references were part of the urban modern orientation of what?

The New Negro ideology

The new entertainments that were part of the New Negro ideology included what?

Song and dance variety shows, musicals and plays, comedy revues, and live jazz and blues sets

Who were the popular blues performers of the era?

Bessy Smith and Ma Rainey

The lyrics of blues performers such as Smith and Rainey were often what?

Racy and suggestive

The racy and suggestive lyrics of blues made blues what type of genre?

A subversive genre

Band leaders like who made energetic dance music?

Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton

Black musical revues and clubs would excerpt song from where?

stage musicals like Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Along (1921)

Where was the Cotton Club located?

Harlem

True or False, the Cotton Club was segregated

True

How did the Cotton Club segregate?

It only allowed Black Americans to participate as performers not audience members

While Saturday Night represents diverse skin tones and body types, which character has elements that historically appeared in more negative caricatured representations of Black Americans?

The seated man at the right side of the composition with thick lops and large grinning smile

What did Alain Locke think of Motleys work?

He found it too broad and did not believe the subtleties of Motleys satire work would translate to white audiences

What was the goal of Motleys work?

To explore the histories of Black representation in America, both positive and negative

Motley transformed complex racial dynamics into what?

Paintings that express the energy difference and drama in Black communities that held people of all shapes sizes skin tones geographical origins religious persuasions class identities and genders

Which of Motleys works show the continuation of the drama, overlapping figures, bright colors, and focus on Black musical genres and dance?

Nightlife (1943) and Hot Rhythm (1961)

When did Motley pass away?

In 1981

When was Motleys work revisited?

2014

The 2014 retrospective was curated by who?

Richard J Powell

Who was Richard J Powell?

A historian of African-American art

Which 2024 exhibition were Motleys works featured in?

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism

Where was The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism exhibition held?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Where do many of Motleys most iconic works remain?

In private collections, not widely exhibited