This exhibition celebrates the influence of Aaron Douglas on the art of Nashville and the nation, as seen in works by present and former faculty members of the Fisk University Art Department. Douglas is internationally recognized as the foremost visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance. His paintings, murals, and illustrations capture the dynamic spirit of the period in the 1920s and early 30s when artists, writers, and musicians in Harlem were creatively expressing their visions of racial identity and the future of African Americans. The retrospective of Douglas's work from this period and beyond, Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist, organized by the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, is on view at the Frist Center from January 18–April 13, 2008 in the Upper-Level Galleries.

In addition to his artistic contributions, Douglas had a lasting impact as an educator. He began to teach art at Fisk University in 1937 and soon established the Fine Arts Department, which he chaired until his retirement in 1966. Douglas's reputation and friendships throughout the art world enabled him to attract many talented artists to the faculty. These artists, and their successors working today, have extended his legacy through art and teaching into the twenty-first century. Some of Fisk University's faculty members reflect the stylistic influence of Douglas, while others share his concern with defining African American identity, a subject that remains of consequence nearly forty years after Douglas's death in 1979. Perhaps Douglas’s greatest influence, however, is seen in the spirit of experimentation—in forms, concepts, and materials—that links all the works in this exhibition.

Image: Vando Rogers. Rufus, ca. 1994. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 16 in.  © Vando L. Rogers, Jr.