The
best known composer from the Afro-American community was
William Grant Siill. Many operatic and concert singers have been
Negroes, and they include such well-known names as Paul Robeson,
Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, and William Warfield.
The most famous of the Afro-American painters was Henry O.
Tanner, who had made his reputation before the Negro Renaissance.
Tanner's paintings had been widely acclaimed at the Paris
Exposition in 1900, the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and the
St. Louis Exposition in 1904. Tanner avoided Negro subjects and
concentrated on biblical themes. In the field of sculpture, Meta
Warrick Fuller was the first Negro to gain attention. Augusta
Savage became well-known for her head of Dr. DuBois, and
Richmond Barthe gained recognition for the bust of Booker T.
Washington.
In retrospect, the Renaissance of the twenties can be seen as
the beginning of a continuing, self-conscious cultural movement
within the Afro-American community. During the 1930s, however,
the outpouring diminished. The Depression affected the entire
American scene, businessmen, workmen, and artists, and its impact
on the Negro Renaissance was particularly severe.
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