Excerpt from a Harmon Foundation Exhibition Program, 1931
Supporting the Artists
Little Brown Girl; Kentake Page Les Fetiches; Smithsonian Art Museum Woman Holding a Jug; University of Iowa
". . . important to the nurturing and promotion of African American art were the activities of the Harmon Foundation."
~ Cary D. Wintz, Harlem Speaks
The Harmon Foundation
The Harmon Foundation was formed in 1922 by William Harmon to support black artists. For the most part, it succeeded in its cause, and many participated in its annual galleries and competitions.
"The purpose of the awards was to stimulate creative achievement among and to bring attention to the work being accomplished by African Americans, and it became almost synonymous with Negro visual art."
~ Anne Evenhaugen, Against the Odds
Harmon Foundation Award Submission Card, 1928; Massachusetts Online Collection
However, the Harmon Foundation emphasized incorporating “black elements” into artwork so strongly that some felt stifled by its rigid and uncompromising expectations.
"The Negro artists wondered if we should be following the dictates of our heritage of the Negro; that is should we have devoted ourselves to gaining information from Africa or should we just become artists, painters, and sculptors, without thinking of race? ~ James Lesesne Wells, Against the Odds
"The images of the American Negro that were created by Negro artists were complex, subtle, and human." ~ Clemen A. Price, Against the Odds
Clip from The Negro and Art, 1933