Archibald Motley, Painter
Archibald John Motley was an African-American painter born in 1881 in New Orleans, but he spent much of his life in Chicago. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1918. Unlike painters Romare Bearden and Aaron Douglas for example, he never lived in Harlem and thus technically was not part of the Harlem Renaissance. Nonetheless, he became famous for his “colorful chronicling of the African-American experience during the 1920s and 1930s.” You can check out his work here and here.
I spend a lot of time researching. Like most authors do. Reader expectation of fiction includes being rooted in the believable, no matter whether the story is fantasy, contemporary, historical, or suspense. For my historical and romantic suspense manuscripts, I research a lot and sink into numerous rabbit holes on a regular basis. But I enjoy finding that fact about a setting or a thing that will bring my story to life (or at least make my hero or heroine more credible).
Currently, I am putting the finishing touches on a manuscript set in the 1920s. Of course, we all know a little if not a lot about flappers, bootleg whiskey, Al Capone and the women’s suffrage movement. But there are things and people I hate to admit I knew little if anything about–and I can’t put them all in one book. So, I thought I’d share some of my findings each week here in my blog under All That Jazz. And oh, the name doesn’t mean I’ll always share from the world of the 1920s. (Frankly, I’ll research the freaking time of day…so we’ll just have to see what shows up here:).
I love art and had the pleasure of working with a curator at the Art Institute of Chicago on a Yoruba Art exhibit for a corporate sponsor (It’s been a few years:). I’ve always appreciated how my then work in PR allowed me to interact with many of the city’s museums. And Chicago is a great town for museums!
See you next week!
