The Harlem Artists Guild (1937)

Gwendolyn Bennett & Claude McKay

Before the Black Arts Movement, before the cultural wing of the civil rights struggle fully took shape, before the term “Black artist” had any institutional footing at all, there was the Harlem Artists Guild. Formed in 1935 by Augusta Savage and a small group of committed artists, the Guild emerged from a moment when art, labor, and anti-racist struggle were deeply entangled. Harlem was not only a cultural center but a political battleground shaped by the Great Depression, the rise of the Works Progress Administration, and the growing influence of leftist organizing among workers, writers, and artists. Within this charged atmosphere, the Guild positioned Black artists not as isolated individuals but as part of a broader, united front with all workers in the arts, insisting that the fight for Black cultural expression could not be separated from the fight for economic security, racial justice, and collective power.

The following text by Gwendolyn Bennett, published in 1937 in Art Front, the magazine of the Artists Union, itself aligned with the Communist Party USA, is both a report and a declaration. It captures a moment when Black artists were building institutions, demanding employment on federal art projects, organizing pickets against cuts to the WPA, and developing community art centers in Harlem. It documents not just the aesthetic aspirations of its members but their material struggle for jobs, training, visibility, and political leverage. Seen within the long lineage of artists organizing for liberation, the Harlem Artists Guild stands as an early and essential example of what it means for artists to fight collectively, to build their own structures of support, and to claim culture as a site of political power. Bennett’s piece offers us a window into that formative period and reminds contemporary artists of the legacy of struggle they inherit.

The Harlem Arts Guild

Gwendolyn Bennett – Art Front. Vol. 3 No. 4. May, 1937.

With the assumption of its duties as part of the national steering committee of the Federation of Artists’ Unions, the Harlem Artists’ Guild definitely comes of age. Organized originally with the in- tent of guarding the cultural, social and economic integrity of the Negro artist, the Guild within two years has arrived at the point in its development where it sees itself in relation to all artists, black and white. From such a point in its organizational development the Guild does well to pause in retrospective evaluation of its accomplishments up to the present time.

Following an exhibition of work by Negro artists, sponsored by the College Art Association and the W.P.A., in March, 1935, the Harlem Artists’ Guild was organized with less than a dozen members who saw the need for an organization that would have as its aim the welfare of Negro artists. Its present membership of approximately ninety artists has the same aims augmented by the growing understanding that the fate of Negro artists is identified with that of all other artists. The Guild plans to become more active in the organizational work of the New York Artists’

Union, the Coordination Committee and the American Artists’ Congress. While concerned primarily with problems peculiar to Negro artists by virtue of their bond of color and persecution, the Guild membership has been invigorated and heartened by the support its small number receives from the thousands of artists, banded together for their mutual welfare.

Part of the original program of the Guild was a plan for a Harlem community art center. The Federal Art program in Harlem is now housed in the West 123rd Street Music-Art Center preparatory to moving into a large place devoted solely to art. The opening of the Mayor’s proposed art center will go far toward materializing the program put forward by the Harlem Artists’ Guild. While supporting the need for an art center and critical of faulty attempts in this direction, the Guild is ready to lend its assistance to both ventures. The opening exhibition of the present Music-Art Center combined work done by the artists and children working under the guidance of the W.P.A., and paintings and sculpture by members of the Harlem Artists’ Guild. Attendance in the life-class at the W.P.A. center is part of the indoor program of the Guild. Through conference with the Committee of One Hundred, a municipal body headed by Mrs. Breckinridge, and consultation with members of the Board of Education under whose aegis the proposed art center is to be set up, the Guild keeping a watchful eye on the direction its organization is taking.

Employment of Negro artists has always been one of the Guild’s major problems. When the Guild was organized, there were only a half dozen Negro artists employed on the W.P.A. project. This number has been materially increased. Through the efforts of the Guild, Negro artists are now employed in the teaching, mural, easel and index of design departments of the Federal Art Project. Before the formation of the Guild there was no Negro supervisor on the W.P.A. Projects; now in the Federal Art Project there are three Negro supervisors. Delegations from the Guild meet with the Administration of the Project and with organizations dealing with the problems of employment and quality of work among artists. In this connection the Guild hopes eventually to compile a roster of Negro artists from all over the country, their status–whether employed or unemployed–and their qualifications.

The cultural program of the Guild is steadily expanding. Lectures, symposia, and debates on technical subjects of interest to artists are arranged monthly for Guild members and associates. Sessions devoted to music, literature and other cultural subjects are offered to the general public once a month. Exhibitions of painting and sculpture have been shown in Harlem community centers and schools. An exhibition of work by the Harlem Artists’ Guild is being prepared for the American Artists’ School. Through sketch classes, museum tours and lectures for the benefit of its membership and the community the Harlem Artists Guild seeks to create a cultural program that will ultimately place the Negro artist in a position of importance in the society of which he is a part.

The Guild sets out to combat those forces that keep the Negro artist from his place in the sun, to strengthen and aid those forces that militate for his good. The Guild stands shoulder to shoulder with artists and organizations fighting on a united front for the freedom and integrity of all artists regardless of race or color. It has given no quarter to ignorance and prejudice; no ground to malice and ill-intent. What will the Guild do? It will continue its fight for the Negro artist’s legitimate place as a worthwhile force in the society of which he is a part.

HARLEM ARTISTS GUILD

Claude McKay

1937. Assignment Editor - C.B. Cumberbatch

The Harlem Artists' Guild was organized in March, 1935. The Guild was organized as an indirect protest resulting from an exhibition of Negro artists in Harlem in the winter of 1934-1935, which was sponsored by a Citizens' Committee of Harlem working in conjunction with the College Arts Association.

The artists of Harlem were dissatisfied with the handling of the exhibition because so few of the artists in Harlem were allotted work on the C.W.A. jobs. About six of the leading Harlem artists banded together to found an organization which would represent their interests. They were Aaron Douglass, Augusta Savage, Charles Aston, Henry Bannarn, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Romare Bearden.

The founding group called a meeting of all the artists who were represented in the Collegiate Arts Exhibition. At that first meeting, the Guild was organized. In its preamble, it made the following interesting statements:

  1. A belief in social purpose of Art.

  2. That Negroes are destined to play an important part in the art of America.

  3. A desire to awaken the people to artistic needs, which would aid the greater development of art.

  4. A desire to cooperate with other art organizations.

  5. The necessity of an Art Centre, where artists could get together to discuss ideas, and also the necessity of providing studios for artists.

  6. The necessity of providing immediate work for the artists of Harlem.

An executive Committee was elected to consider employment needs. With the Citizens' Committee of Harlem cooperating, the Guild Committee approached the W.P.A. Authorities in charge of Art Projects to obtain assignments for colored artists.

The Guild Committee was successful in its efforts and dozens of artists were provided with W.P.A. art work. Practical evidence of this is the mural work of the Harlem Hospital, which has been allocated entirely to Negro artists. About 8 colored artists are engaged there executing frescoes of actual Negro life or which are inspired by Negroid themes.

The murals of the Harlem Hospital have encountered a great deal of opposition and criticism. The designs, in keeping with the modern trend in art, are bold and daring. And some of the white officials and also the colored nurses objected to them. The Guild had to put up a fight for the right of its artists to express themselves in the medium most adaptable to their artistic inspiration, and it won that right.

The murals of the Harlem Hospital are a significant illustration of Negroes working together in the interest of group expression in the plastic arts.

The organization has been active in other fields. It sent a delegate to the National Negro Congress, which was held in Chicago. It also boycotted the Texas Centennial Exhibition, refusing to cooperate in sending the works of Negro artists to be exhibited, because there was a special Jim Crow section reserved for Negro artists.

Since it came into existence, the Guild has sponsored three exhibitions in Harlem. The first was held in a tea-room in Harlem in December of 1935. The artists sold a number of items to the local residents. The second exhibition was one sponsored by the Guild, and it was the work of a Mexican artist. The third exhibition was a large one held in June under W.P.A. Auspices. The leading Negro artists took part in the exhibition: Aaron Douglass, Augusta Savage, Louise Jefferson, Henry Bannarn, Romare Bearden, Sara Turrell, Anna McLean Smith, and Robert Pious.

The Guild was represented at the American Artists' Congress, which was held last year, and its delegate, Aaron Douglass, made a speech in which he related the activities of the artists of Harlem.

THE HARLEM ARTISTS GUILD VS. THE HARMON FOUNDATION

The Harlem Artists' Guild has taken issue with the Harmon Foundation. For the past 7 years, the Harmon Foundation, by special awards and exhibitions, has endeavored to promote the artistic work of Negroes. It has had in all some six exhibitions of the works of Negroes. The Board of the Harmon Foundation is not made up of artists. It functions philanthropically something like the Guggenheim, Rosenwald, and Pulitzer Foundations. Nevertheless, it has accomplished pioneer work in encouraging and exhibiting Negro artists, who would not otherwise be heard of. There were 57 Negro artists in the Harmon Foundation Exhibition of 1935.

The majority of the Harmon exhibitors are not members of the Harlem Artists' Guild. In a statement published this summer, the Guild goes on record as adopting an "Attitude of noncooperation toward the Harmon Foundation." The Guild declares that it "is convinced that the Harmon Foundation does not serve the best interests of the Negro artist," because it is "not a recognized art agency" and it has "presented Negro art from the sociological standpoint rather than from the aesthetic."

Unfortunately, the Guild does not state whether it considers the established Art Dealers and the Galleries which exhibit artistic works as "Recognized art agencies."
The Harmon Foundation in dealing with Negro writers and artists may have made mistakes like the other Foundations dealing with white writers and artists: mistakes in selections of art works and advisers especially. Nevertheless, it has done pioneer work in encouraging and fostering the talent of Negro artists. And some of the Negro artists sponsored by the so-called "Jim Crow" Harmon Foundation have been winning steadily a wider recognition.


Bibliography: Magazine and newspaper clippings and the records of the Harlem Artists' Guild.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "“Harlem Artists' Guild”" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1936 - 1941.