Street Life, Harlem

William H. Johnson, Street Life, Harlem, ca. 1939-1940, oil on plywood, 45 ⁵⁄₈ x 38 ⁵⁄₈ in. (116.0 x 98.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.674

Artwork Details

Title: Street Life, Harlem
Artist: William H. Johnson
Date: ca. 1939-1940
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 45 ⁵⁄₈ x 38 ⁵⁄₈ in. (116.0 x 98.0 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on plywood
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Cityscape — celestial — moon
Cityscape — New York — Harlem
Figure group
Architecture Exterior — commercial
Cityscape — New York — New York
Cityscape — street
African American
Object Number: 1967.59.674
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.59.674

Artwork Description

The New York Amsterdam News reported in 1939 on the crowds gathering at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. The reporter described the "cock-eyed hats, perched at crazy angles on . . . shiny hair" and skirts "a tantalizing fraction of an inch below their knees" (Powell, Homecoming: The Art and Life of William H. Johnson, 1991). In Street Life, Harlem, William H. Johnson portrayed an elegant couple dressed "to the nines" for an evening on the town. Style, as much as skin color, was a mark of pride among many African Americans who had come of age during the Harlem Renaissance, but the flamboyant appearance of zoot-suiters inflamed racial tensions long after swing music and the jitterbug had been absorbed into American popular culture.