From Ambiguity to Identity: Silhouettes and Silhouetting in the African American Art of the Harlem Renaissance and its Afterlife

The research on silhouettes within the context of African American art has mainly concentrated on the brilliantly horrific compositions of contemporary artist Kara Walker. Conversely, little scholarly attention has been paid to the role played by silhouettes during the artistic heyday in African American modern history known as the Harlem Renaissance, as well as during its afterlife. The visual arts of these decades served as active vehicles for the opposition to negative stereotypes on the Black community, for the affirmation of its multifaceted nature and rich contribution to American society, and ultimately, for the establishment of collectively self-determined African American identities. It is striking to notice that a popular visual motif of the period was the silhouetted shape, which through its inherent features of reduction, generalization, and anonymity, seems to visually and conceptually counteract the pursued goal of establishing a compositeness of Black identities. For silhouettes seem to completely suspend identity due to their aesthetic of ambiguity. By specifically highlighting this aesthetic of ambiguity, this dissertation project poses the research question as to how the adoption and reception of the ambiguous visual motif of the silhouette negotiated with the socio-political aspirations of the time and contributed to the creation of new African American identities. Taking transatlantic modernism as broad research framework, the investigation will engage with the artistic practices of Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Lois Mailou Jones and Richard Bruce Nugent as principal protagonists. Ultimately, it will be argued for the reading of silhouettes as material and visual, abstract and relational spaces, capable of activating resistance to derogatory images of Black people in American visual culture, crafting new African American identities, and negotiating the Black community's place in American society and the wider transatlantic realm.