"Black And White" On The Mainstream Of African-American Art In The1920s

Mainstream and margin have been defined as the state of "isolation". As to the development of history, the real development vigor of culture is that the mainstream culture opens an opening and tolerant mentality to marginal culture. In addition, it also absorbs the essence of marginal culture, which provides fresh motivation for the development of mainstream culture.The rise of African-American art in the1920s reflects the change of attitude of American culture to the black culture, which is a typical case of absorbing and remodeling of American art and a good opportunity for black culture to seek the culture identity. In the process of the revolution of American art history, the great proportion of white and black enables that their interaction has become the main issue, which determines the important form of American art culture.In the1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was the booming period of African-American art culture. This dissertation focuses on how they crush with each other. Generally speaking, white color is stronger than black color, which basically conforms to the society and economic status of the Black and the White in the United States at that time. In the dominant society, the white art actively sought new expression form and absorbed the quintessence from the Black, in that texture of the mainstream culture had been improved. At the same time, the African-American tried hard to seek for their identity, constructed their identity as Americans, show their own artistic value and expressed the desire from the edge to the mainstream by involving in the art.Mainly embodied by art, joined with history study, comparative study, intensive reading of texts, context analysis and image interpretation, this dissertation gives deep study in the art stile with "original character" of African-American, as well as how External Factors Foundation exert influence over the development of the African-American art. Besides it aims to clearly elaborate the relationship of culture construction between the black and the white, the dialogue form between the black and the white, as well as how the black developed their traditional culture and the white absorbed the useful elements that are favorable for their own development.