Moon over Harlem

William H. Johnson, Moon over Harlem, ca. 1943-1944, oil on plywood, 28 ¹⁄₂ x 35 ³⁄₄ in. (72.5 x 90.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.577

Artwork Details

Title: Moon over Harlem
Artist: William H. Johnson
Date: ca. 1943-1944
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 28 ¹⁄₂ x 35 ³⁄₄ in. (72.5 x 90.8 cm.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on plywood
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Figure group
Landscape — celestial — moon
Cityscape — New York — Harlem
Occupation — service — policeman
State of being — evil — violence
Object Number: 1967.59.577
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.59.577

Artwork Description

Moon over Harlem commemorates the riots of 1943, when a confrontation between a white police officer, a black woman, and a black soldier resulted in a melee of fighting and burning that left several killed and hundreds wounded. William H. Johnson based the pairs of figures at the left and right margins on photographs of rioters arrested by white officers. But Johnson painted the police as black men, and the ground is strewn with empty liquor bottles, as if the artist wanted to suggest that the people of Harlem were brutalizing themselves through their own behavior.