Café

Date: ca. 1939-1940
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1967/1967.59.669_1a.jpg?itok=hxry5Mn4 width="251" height="321" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/caf%C3%A9-11583"]] || Title: **Café**

Artist: **William H. Johnson** Born: Florence, South Carolina 1901 Died: Central Islip, New York 1970

Medium: oil on paperboard Dimensions: 36 1/2 x 28 3/8 in. (92.7 x 72.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the Harmon Foundation

Accession: 1967.59.669 || Johnson spent decades traveling the world, searching for the authentic spirit of ordinary people from different cultures. In the late 1930s, he found what he was looking for in his own African American community. The strong colors and silhouettes in this painting evoke the African art that black artists and writers had embraced during the Harlem Renaissance. But this affectionate couple also has the fashionable flash of zoot-suiters in the big band era. Above the table, the two figures coolly take in the café scene; below, a tangle of legs and limbs hints at the erotic energy of a night on the town.
 * Exhibition Label: **

Johnson produced a series of empathetic vignettes of the Harlem community following his return from Europe in 1930. This jaunty couple would attract the attention of even a casual observer. The woman's red gloves, platform shoes, and magenta hat are bold counterpoints to her simple white dress. Her companion's broad-shouldered plaid suit marks him as equally conscious of the period's urban fashions. Their body language raises intriguing questions, as the woman gazes hard at the man and places her gloved hand on his shoulder while he looks away…is her gesture one of casual affection as he scans the café scene or of possessiveness as she tries to regain his attention?

Dobbs Hats
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Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page
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