Archibald Motley - Youth and Schooling

Youth and Schooling

Unlike many other Harlem Renaissance artists, Archibald Motley, Jr. never lived in Harlem—he was born in New Orleans and spent the majority of his life in Chicago. He graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago. He was offered a scholarship to study architecture by one of his father's friends, which he turned down in order to study art. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he received classical training but his modernist-realist works were out of step with the school's then-conservative bent. During his time at the Art Institute, Motley was mentored by painters Earl Beuhr and John W. Norton. and he did well enough to cause his father's friend to pay his tuition. While he was a student, in 1913, other students at the Institute "rioted" against the modernism on display at the Armory Show (a collection of the best new modern art). Motley graduated in 1918 but kept his modern, jazz-influenced paintings secret for some years thereafter.

Motley experienced success early in his career; in 1927 his piece Mending Socks was voted the most popular exhibit at the Newark Museum in New Jersey. He was awarded the Harmon Foundation award in 1928, and then became the first African-American to have a one-man exhibit in New York City. He sold twenty-two out of the twenty-six exhibited paintings.