Essay - Palmer Hayden- ' a Midsummer Night in Harlem' Hayden Was...

Palmer Hayden- " A Midsummer Night in Harlem"

Hayden was born in Wide Water, Virginia in 1890, as Peyton Hedgeman. His artistic name, Palmer Hayden, w***** taken from the corrupted pronunciation of Peyton ***** by a command*****g sergeant during World War I.1. He ********** *****ten thought of as a self trained artist. He studied at Cooper Union in New York and then pursued ********** studies at Boothbay Art Colony in Ma*****e.2 Hayden w***** one the first African American artists who used African subjects and designs in his painting.

His 1926 still life "Fetiche et Fleurs" highlights a Fang mask from Gabon ***** Bakuba raffia cloth from the Congo. This painting won the prestigious Harmon Found*****ion's Gold Award. 3

Following this award and with a grant from a patron, ***** was able to continue his studies in Paris. Here he further explored his *****terest in *****hnic subjects. It was an intensively productive period for the painter, as is given evidence by the amount of sketches that he brought back home in 19*****2, sketches that vividly capture Parisian society.4

***** returned to the United States in 1932 and worked steadily over the next several years for the U.S. government, *****cluding the U.S. Tre*****ury Art Project and the Depression-era government-funded Works Progress Administration (WPA). In ***** later works Hayden focused mainly on the ***** American experience, capturing both rural ga*****rings in the South and the urban juxtaposition of New York.5

By 1940 ***** ***** ***** already known ***** his narrative scenes of New York's urban ***** and ***** ***** South. Almost like a photographer taking snapshots, he chose to portray his ***** during unguarded moments in their daily routine, surprising them in movement. "His characterizations - sometimes humorous, sometimes unflattering - are n*****theless caring and proud. Described ***** Hayden's compelling use of line, they possess the immediacy of popular illustrations."6

***** Hayden had pursued training in ***** York and Paris, ***** style has frequently been described as primitive. "***** "The Jani*****r Who Paints", the figures' oversized hands and intense, cartoonlike expressions, as well as the freely treated space in which shapes are outl*****ed as relatively flat areas of color, recall the simplified forms of American folk art." 7 Actually, *****se elements are present much more beca***** of his highly personal approach to interpreting the vitality and challenges ***** African-American life than because of the broader influences of African and modern art that Hayden encountered in Paris 8

Some of ***** best known paintings are "Fetiche et Fleurs", "The Janitor Who *****", "Where'd You Git Them High Top Shoes?", "The Big Bend Tunnel", "Blue Nile", the "John Henry" series, "A Midsummer ***** in Harlem" and o*****rs.

This last painting, "***** Midsummer Night in *****", was painted in the same style as "The ***** Who Paints", a style characteristic to Hayden. The work portrays a street in the city, in H*****rlem, at night time, a street popul*****ted by people in great number. It is a joyful scene and the ***** appear to be enjoying *****selves.