The Roaring ‘20s aka The Jazz Age – America’s cultural revolution.

Writers, musicians, designers, artists, ushering in an era of experimenting, breaking the boundaries of accepted norms and conventions.

It also was the era of the great migration – millions of black Americans leaving the South, seeking greener pastures in the North.

And for many, the New York neighbourhood of Harlem became their new home, including an astonishing array of black scholars and artists.

As Harlem flourished so did its artistic community – the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, it’s artists, sculptors, photographers, singers, actors, musicians, writers, gaining widespread recognition, acceptance and acclaim.

But the Harlem Renaissance spread beyond its New York enclave.

And it was in Chicago, the hometown of the black American painter Archibald John Motley Jr. – that saw the creation of a bold visual signpost of the Jazz Age.

Although his work focused on depicting Chicago’s black elites, recently arrived black migrants from the South also were part of his painters tableau.

Motley lived in a white neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest side, a few miles from the city’s growing black community – Bronzeville – the locale for many of his works.

Even though Motley had a long career and enjoyed recognition for his work early in life, he went through subsequent periods of struggle and obscurity. 

Originally he started painting portraits in a traditional, conventional, way, given he was a student – the first black artist – to attend the Art Institute of Chicago.