Lily of the Valley

 The Harlem Renaissance occured in the years between World War I and the Great Depression and the onset of World War II and was a pioneering period for black artistic culture, identity and expression during a time of severe segregation and inequality.  With a large occurrance of the discrimination happening in the South, thousands of African-Americans moved North and settled in Harlem, NY, which became the hotbed of artistic expression, forming the Harlem Renaissance.   Artistic expression is a luxury.  Time is required for investment into a painting, sculpture, musical composition...and time is a luxury not afforded to many, especially those prevented from certain locations, jobs, accomodations, salaries, and educational opportunities.  While segregation, oppression and discrimination were still very much a reality, the community formation of black people in Harlem offered the opportunity for support, education, cultural pride and more financial freedom within the small bubble and as

Much how advertisements and attitudes towards women's body imaging have changed in the past few decades (think stick thin supermodels of the 90's moving to advertisements of real women by Dove in the 00's), the progression from romanticism in paintings and art to the realism style evolved.  Beginning with softened, enhanced, perfection portrayed in the romantic style of paintings featuring landscapes, ideal people, places and scenes, several artists rejected this style and demanded their art show people and places as they truly are.                                               Liberty Leading the People - Eugene Delacroix (1830) (Zygmont, B.) The above painting is a depiction of the July revolution that occurred in France by the working middle-class people following ordinances set by King Charles X.  Lady Liberty is front and center, bosom exposed, waving the French flag in one hand and a bayoneted musket in the other leading the people forward over barricades and bodies.

The 1700s brought a scientific revolution through people such as Galileo Galilei, Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler.  New ideas, thoughts, and discoveries were reinventing how the world was seen.  Observations and discoveries were being made in human anatomy and pathology as well and many of these discoveries being documented in art.  Without the ability to visually document discoveries, artists were often retained to work alongside a scientist to document discoveries.  While maybe not considered "traditional" art, the artistic drawings and engraved plates used to print in anatomical books are still works of art.  The minute details required to document bones, muscles, tissues and tendons, as well as the addition of artistic liberties in posing the subjects in action or movement, shows the incredible talent of these artists.           Muscle Figure, Seen from the Front, 1780, Antonio Cattani. Etching and engraving on five plates printed on five sheets. Getty Res