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THE CRISIS, May 1979

Farewell to Aaron Douglas
By ROMARE BEARDEN

[[image - photograph]]
Aaron Douglas

AARON DOUGLAS, leading painter of Harlem's Black Renaissance era, died Friday, February 3 [1979] in Nashville, Tenn. From the mid-1920s until a few years ago, he maintained a home at 409 Edgecombe Avenue [in New York City].

ROMARE BEARDEN is one of America's pre-eminent artists. This article by Mr. Bearden is reprinted from the NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS, February 24, 1979.

Douglas' career covered 60 years of painting and drawing, and the creation of murals and illustrations of distinctive quality and worth. His greatest graphic accomplishment was in his illustrations for James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones, sermons in verse that immortalized the black minister. His murals emphasized the same mystical, spiritual qualities in his unique way of celebrating the Afro and Afro-American achievement. He created murals for Club Ebony and for the walls of Alelia Walker's Dark Tower, and the libraries of Atlanta


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University, Fisk University, and Bennett College, to name but a few. Many of these works, now newly appreciated, need restoration.

I knew Mr. Douglas best in the late 1930s. We younger artists called him either "Doug" or the "Dean" and found him a friendly, genial man, kind, helpful and always modest. During the years when his home was a gathering place for the famous, he and his late wife, Alta Sawyer Douglas, were inspiring and welcoming spirits to persons in all the arts. The entire roster of personalities who participated in Alain Locke's "New Negro" anthology could be seen at the Douglas's: Rudolph Fisher, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Arna Bontemps, Harold Jackman, Charles S. Johnson, Walter White. Also Jules Bledsoe, Paul Robeson, William Dawson, the symphony composer from Kansas. There was, in fact, a reception given, following the Stokowski debut of Dawson's symphony, at the Douglas apartment. As distinguished as this salon was; there was always room made for the younger unknowns, thanks to Douglas' encouraging cordiality.

When the young black artists formed the Harlem Artists Guild in the mid-1930s, Aaron Douglas was the natural and first president of it. When he left during the late 1930s for a teaching engagement at Fisk University, he was succeeded by Augusta Savage, the sculptor.

WHAT we young artists particularly admired in Douglas' work was his fine craftsmanship. He had studied with the renown Austrian artist, Winold Reiss, who had done the portrait illustrations for the "New Negro" issue of the Survey Graphic and later for the book. At Reiss' suggestion, Douglas did the black and white chapter headings and other designs. From Reiss came the North European tradition of precision and craftsmanship, which stemmed from Cranach, Durer and Holbein. But for his murals and illustrations Douglas preferred the flat space and silhouetted figures of the cubists. 

One day I told Doug how much I admired his craftsmanship, and this is what he told me: "Technique in itself is not enough, it is more important for the artist to develop the power to convey emotion. Remember, Romare, the artist's technique, no matter how brilliant it is, should never obscure his vision."

Also I remember Douglas' affection for history and his constant reading of American and African history. When he studied in Paris, in the late 1920s, he told me that he went to meet the great painter, Henry O. Tanner, who was the first Afro-American artist to achieve international recognition. Douglas said that Tanner wanted to acquaint him with his unique method of painting. Douglas, a modest man, did not feel at that time he should be privy to such information. He later felt that even if he did not use the method himself, he should have learned it to pass it along for not only its practical worth but, in addition, for whatever historical value it may have had in the understanding of Tanner's art.

Douglas also never emphasized that he had attained a B.A. degree at Kansas University in 1922, a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska in 1923, and a M.A. degree from Columbia University. He achieved this Master's degree when he was already famous and teaching at Fisk, where a gallery is now named for him.

DOUGLAS, the perennial scholar, sought the perfection of his art by adding the dimension of color to his draftsmanship. He thought also of incorporating some stylistic African concepts in his work, until his physical faculties failed him.

Following the death of his beloved wife, Alta, Douglas gave up many of his activities, declining commissions for murals and illustrations. His solitude gave him time to contemplate and reevaluate his ideas. He preferred to live quietly apart from the constant struggling so characteristic of the lives of many artists. He must have known that an age of the careful, considered craftsman had ended. Douglas probably would have agreed with Proust's statement that: "Each of us is truly alone."

I am grateful to have known Aaron Douglas and his wife. I deeply regret that most people knew him only by his name and his art. I only wish they could have shared my personal contact with this eminent man and artist. 

The Chicago Southside Branch, NAACP, is currently interviewing candidates for the position of Executive Secretary of the Branch. Qualified persons may send resumés to the NAACP Office at 407 South Dearborn Street, Room 1590, Chicago, Illinois 60605, or call 312 939-5365 for additional information.

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