AfriCOBRA vs Harlem Renaissance

アフリコブラ / ハーレム・ルネサンス

Both sit in Black Arts Movement, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

AfriCOBRA

AfriCOBRA — ジェイ・ジャレル『Revolutionary Suit』を着る作家本人 撮影: sarahstierch（CC BY 2.0）AfriCOBRA — ワズワース・ジャレル『Revolutionary』展示風景（Loz Flowers, CC BY-SA 2.0）AfriCOBRA — ワズワース・ジャレル『Black Prince』1971 展示風景（Loz Flowers, CC BY-SA 2.0）

Visualizes Black communal affirmation and political consciousness through blazing color, rhythm, lettering and Africa-centered images.

Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance — 『The New Negro』初版 1925 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainHarlem Renaissance — アーロン・ダグラスの壁画習作 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainHarlem Renaissance — 『サーヴェイ・グラフィック』ハーレム特集号 1925 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

A cultural movement that rebuilt Black self-representation and modernity in the words and images of Black people themselves, working through literature, music, theater, publishing and art.

AfriCOBRAHarlem Renaissance
Era1968–1920s–1930s
FamilyBlack Arts MovementBlack Arts Movement
KindStyleStyle
CuesKool-Aid colors / Rhythmic repetition / Letters and figures / Afrocentric imageryBlack self-representation / The jazz age / Magazines and publishing / Modern figures
Best used forPosters for Black community events and music where color and rhythm are the subject. · Affirming words built into the image and printed to be carried and held up.Magazines and books presenting Black writers and performers in their own terms. · Programs and covers for events linking music and literature around the human figure.
TypeBend the words along the figures so the slogan becomes structure, not caption.Letterspaced light capitals for headings, quiet settings for text meant to be read.
CompositionRepeat one shape at even intervals so the eye keeps circling the surface.Cut figures into flat silhouettes and run images at the text column width.
MaterialSet near fluorescent saturated colors side by side, holding print flatness.Prints and drawn illustration, few inks, the paper doing the shadow work.
CautionCopying only the intensity of color while dropping the community's words and faces stylizes the look and loses the purpose, which was affirmation.Borrowing it as jazz age decoration drops the point, which was Black people representing themselves, and leaves a period flavored ornament.

Put these two together

Black Arts Movement

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