1944, William H. Johnson, Mom and Dad -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the exhibition label: The New Negro movement encompassed widely varying artistic approaches, as seen in these two depictions of family elders. Robinson, portraying the grandparents who raised him, drew on the conventions of academic painting to convey a sense of dignity and middle-class stability. Johnson, on the other hand, brought a folk art-inflected modernism—with flat geometric shapes and vibrant colors—to the picture of his mother in a simple interior with a portrait of his late father displayed on the wall behind her.
1944, William H. Johnson, Mom and Dad -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the exhibition label: The New Negro movement encompassed widely varying artistic approaches, as seen in these two depictions of family elders. Robinson, portraying the grandparents who raised him, drew on the conventions of academic painting to convey a sense of dignity and middle-class stability. Johnson, on the other hand, brought a folk art-inflected modernism—with flat geometric shapes and vibrant colors—to the picture of his mother in a simple interior with a portrait of his late father displayed on the wall behind her.