The Harlem Renaissance at Columbus Museum of Art

August 31, 2018

12:00 AM

Photos courtesy of the Columbus Museum of Art

For many people, the concept of the Harlem Renaissance never extends past their high school English classes. It’s a whirlwind of Langston Hughes and jazz, Duke Ellington and the Roaring ’20s. But the thing about artistic movements is that they never really leave our collective cultural conscience. The I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100 exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art aims to not only showcase that, but celebrate it.

Open to the public Oct. 19-Jan. 20, the exhibit not only includes works from major Harlem Renaissance painters such as Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, but also previously unprinted photographs by James Van Der Zee and first edition books and letters from literary figures such as Alain Locke and Langston Hughes. There are copies of Esquire Magazine from the 1930s and 1940s, a 1932 map of Harlem, and even a copy of Aaron Douglas’ Fire!!. The exhibition is also accompanied by a 250-page catalogue with a forward by author and Columbus native, Wil Haygood.

So how does such an eclectic collection come to be?

To hear executive director of the Columbus Museum of Art, Nannette V. Maciejunes, tell it, the answer is nearly by accident.

When Maciejunes attended the launch party for Haygood’s book Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America at the Lincoln Theatre back in 2015, an idea bloomed in her mind. The Harlem Renaissance had influenced so much of Haygood’s work, and the Columbus Museum of Art hadn’t done much with the movement, despite its collection being largely centered on the early modern period.

So, the centennial of the Harlem Renaissance seemed the perfect time to start, and Haygood seemed the perfect guest curator.

Maciejunes approached the late Bill Conner of CAPA, who contacted Larry James, a local attorney who has historically been involved in the Columbus art scene. Suddenly, what had once been a quiet museum exhibit became a citywide celebration of the genius and creativity of the Harlem Renaissance.

Over 30 Columbus-area arts and cultural organizations have come together to showcase the art, culture and lasting influence of the movement.

Highlights include:

Ohio History Connection: Poindexter village: A Portrait in Stories through Sept. 2
COSI: America’s Musical Journey, which traces the roots of jazz, blues, country, soul, and rock and roll through Sept. 4
CAPA presents: The Dance Theatre of Harlem, celebrating 50 years and performing at the Lincoln Theatre through Nov. 17

According to Maciejunes, the Columbus Museum of Art’s exhibition is meant to be the capstone. It is meant to examine the Harlem Renaissance through Haygood’s unique perspective as a writer, cultural historian and journalist who has written so much on black history—and for whom the movement remains an inspiration.

The whole citywide celebration - the largest of its kind - is, “a really wonderful sort of multidimensional look at the Harlem Renaissance,” says Maciejunes.

Melissa Ferguson, the director of marketing and communications for the Columbus Museum of Art, is equally excited about the collaborative celebration.

“Curators love anniversaries just as much as the media does,” she says. “A lot of the cultural blossoming during the Harlem Renaissance is uniquely American.”

A sentiment not only echoed by Maciejunes, but amplified.

“American art has a particular resonance in our museum,” she says, “but over time, (we are) making sure that all of the voices - the whole cacophony - of the American experience are present.”

So while the main floor of the new Walter Wing of the Columbus Museum of Art holds pieces one might expect to find in an art exhibit, the second floor has a video of Haygood talking about the exhibit, and an experimental space working with artists in the community.

“We use this as a moment to introduce … to do special exhibitions on young African-American artists in our community,” Maciejunes says. “Each of us have different experiences, and it’s important that we celebrate the full, inclusive story of America.”

Maciejunes is refreshingly blunt when asked on the importance of the Harlem Renaissance turning 100.

“The point of the exhibition is that African-American art is American art, and that’s important for us all to recognize. It’s all of us, and how we all experience America,” she says.