Any image contains a narrative. A stunning artwork caught my attention as I strolled past an art show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The bright blue hues welcomed me in. I locked my gaze on the drawing, Gettin’ Religion by Archibald Motley Jr. The people’s excitement as they spun in the sky and on the pavement was enthralling. They sparked my interest. I kept looking at the painting, from the strange light bulb in the center of the street to the people gazing out their windows at those playing music and dancing. It made me feel better. The action takes place on a busy street where people are going up and down. As they walk around the room, one-man plays the trombone while the other taps the tambourine. An elderly gentleman passes by as a woman walks her puppy. Their surroundings consist of a house and an apartment building. A woman stands on the patio, her face girdled with frustration, with a child seated on the stairs. As the vibrant crowd paraded up and down the highway, a few residents from the apartment complex looked down. Moreover, a dark-skinned man with voluptuous red lips stands in the center of it all, mounted on a miniature makeshift pulpit with the words “Jesus saves” etched on it. His hands are clasped together, and his wide white eyes are fixed on the night sky, suggesting a prayerful pose. In the 1940s, racial exclusion was the norm. They faced discrimination and a climate of violence. In Gettin’ Religion, Motley depicts a sense of community, using a diverse group of people. He humanizes the convergence of high and low cultures while also inspecting the social stratification relative to the time. The artwork has an exquisite sense of design and balance. Figure foreground, middle ground, and background are exceptionally well crafted throughout this composition.
Gettin’ Religion depicts the bustling rhythms of the African American community. Every single character has a role to play. Motley uses simple colors to capture and maintain visual balance. The artist complemented the deep blue hues with a saturated red in the characters’ lips and shoes, livening the piece. The focus of this composition is the dark-skinned man, which is achieved by following the guiding lines. The guiding lines are the instruments, and the line of sight of the characters, convening at the man. Another element utilized in the artwork is a slight imbalance brought forth by the rule of thirds, which brings the tall, dark-skinned man as our focal point again with his hands clasped in prayer. His head is angled back facing the night sky. It follows right along with the roof life of the house, in a triangular shape, alluding to the holy trinity. The apex of this composition, the street light, is juxtaposed to the lit inside windows, signifying this one is the light for everyone to see. A child is a the feet of the man, looking up at him. The child’s head is cocked back, paying attention to him, which begs us to wonder, does the child see the light too?
Mortley evokes a sense of camaraderie in the painting with the use of value. He uses different values of brown to depict other races of characters, giving a sense of individualism to each. He also achieves this by using the dense pack, where the figures fill the compositional space, making the viewer have to read each person. The characters are also rendered in such detail that they seem tangible and real. He also uses the value to create depth by using darker shades of blue to define shadows and light shades for objects closer to the foreground or the light making the piece three-dimensional. He accomplishes the illusion of space by overlapping characters in the foreground with the house in the background creating a sense of depth in the composition. He employs line repetition on the house to create texture. He also uses a color edge to depict lines giving the work more appeal and interest. The angular lines enliven the painting as they show motion. The image has a slight imbalance, focusing on the man in prayer, which is slightly offset by the street light on his right. Mortley also achieves contrast by using color. Be it the red lips or the red heels in the woman, the image stands out accurately against the blue background. He accurately captures the spirit of every day in the African American community.
Gettin’ Religion is one of the most enthralling works of modernist literature. It exemplifies a humanist attitude to diversity while still highlighting racism. It affirms ethnic pride by the use of facts. By representing influential classes of individuals in his works, he depicts blackness as multidimensional. Mortley, in turn, gives us a comprehensive image of the African American community’s elegance, strength, and majesty during his tenure. This way, his style stands out while he still manages to deliver his intended message.