| African American art is a broad term which can | | | | artists could express much more freedom in |
| be used to describe the visual arts of the African | | | | experimentation and education concerning |
| American community. It was influenced by many | | | | techniques that stretched beyond traditional |
| diverse cultural traditions, including those of Africa, | | | | western art. Freedom of expression was much |
| Europe and the Americas. Traditional African | | | | more prevalent in Paris as well as Munich and |
| American art forms include basket weaving, | | | | Rome to a lesser extent. |
| pottery and quilting to woodcarving and painting. | | | | Perhaps The Harlem Renaissance was one of the |
| Many slaves arrived from Africa as skilled artisans. | | | | most notable movements in African American art. |
| The earliest recorded African American artists | | | | Concepts of freedom and liberty ideas that were |
| were actually slaves who worked as potters, | | | | already widespread in many parts of the world |
| blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, quilters, basket | | | | had begun to seep into the artistic communities of |
| makers and silversmiths. | | | | the United States during the 1920s. Famous |
| With the passing of the Civil War, it became more | | | | artists at this time period included photographer |
| acceptable for African American created works | | | | James Van Der Zee, painter Palmer Hayden, |
| to be exhibited in museums, thus artists steadily | | | | Aaron Douglas, Richmond Barthé, Archibald |
| produced works for this purpose. Such works | | | | Motley, William H. Johnson, Sargent Johnson, Malvin |
| mostly followed the trend of European romantic | | | | Gray Johnson, and Hale Woodruff. |
| and classical traditions of landscapes and portraits. | | | | With the advent of African American Art and |
| Of this time, the most popular were: Edward | | | | Postmodernism by the mid to late 1980s earlier |
| Mitchell Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner and | | | | definitions of African American art would be |
| Edmonia Lewis. However within the states of | | | | replaced with postmodernist concepts of cultural |
| America, African American art was subject to | | | | relativity, art-as-performance, critical inquiries of |
| discriminatory limitations. However, overseas the | | | | art and society through one's work, and |
| artworks of African Americans were much better | | | | interrogations of identity, geography, and history. |
| received. In Europe, especially in Paris, these | | | | |