Focus on Conservation

Aaron Douglas was one of the first African American artists to consistently explore themes of racial identity and the black experience within a modern context. In 1922 he completed his BFA from the University of Nebraska and in 1925 moved to New York to live in the burgeoning social and artistic renaissance that was Harlem. There he studied under Winold Reiss, a German artist much involved with African American culture. Douglas illustrated editorials on lynchings, segregation, and other issues for Crisis and Opportunity, magazines sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League, respectively. He became one of the leading visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance and collaborated with various writers to illustrate their short stories and poetry.

Douglas's most significant works are large-scale murals that take as their subjects the African American experience. One of his great interests was the Negro spiritual. RISD's drawings explore the historical themes of slavery, emancipation, the struggle for human rights, relocation from the rural South to the urban North, and the contributions of African Americans to city growth, building, economy, and culture. Douglas drew upon his knowledge of Ivory Coast sculpture and Egyptian wall painting to develop his signature style of flat, elongated figures in silhouette, monochromatic palette, fractured space, overlapping forms, and ambiguous lighting.

Douglas undertook his first major mural commission in 1930 for Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. Before this was completed, he had been asked to paint a mural cycle at Chicago's Sherman Hotel. The Museum's studies are for these two projects. Douglas also produced murals under the Works Progress Administration in the mid- to late 30s and established Fisk University's art department in 1937, where he remained until his retirement in 1966. Douglas's work set the stage for the continuing debate about the existence of an African American art aesthetic.

The Museum's mural studies were drawn on commercially prepared illustration board. This material, composed partly of acidic wood pulp, became increasingly embrittled, discolored, and fragile over the years. A 1994 conservation survey of RISD's American drawings designated Douglas's gouaches for treatment. The procedures and tools used by Paper Conservator Leslie Paisley of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center are highlighted in this exhibition. Conservation treatment is based on a case-by-case consideration of the materials and conditions specific to the artwork at risk. It requires a great deal of knowledge and skill to effectively repair a piece without incurring further damage. Douglas's studies have now been stabilized and made safe to handle and exhibit, providing opportunities for scholarly research and viewing by future generations.