Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by American Negro Artists

The American Negro Artists show (1929 and 1930) was part of a traveling exhibition of African American art sponsored by the Harmon Foundation and the Federal Council of Churches (FCC) staged in the Smithsonian’s National Museum building (known today as the Arts and Industries Building). Most of the artwork was created by men and women established enough in their careers to make their living as artists, including Archibald Motley, whose award-winning painting Octoroon Girl was prominently featured in the exhibition. Visitors would also see early work by Palmer Hayden, who would in 1947 produce a famous series of paintings detailing the legend of John Henry. Or they could acquaint themselves with the work of Hale Woodruff, whose evocative murals of the Amistad mutiny would later grace the walls of Alabama’s Talladega College. The exhibition also included less famous artists like William E. Braxton, who earned his living as a waiter in a Brooklyn restaurant, and John Hailstalk, an elevator operator in Manhattan.

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