Study for Aspects of Negro Life: The Negro in an African Setting

Aaron Douglas, an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance, made this finished study for the first of five murals intended for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. The murals depict the history of African Americans, from their origins in Africa to life in America in the 1930s. Through his use of Egyptian profiles and elements of African art, Douglas utilized a hybrid Western-African aesthetic also seen in works by artists like Pablo Picasso.