"archibald motley: jazz age modernist" is the first scale survey of motley in two decades.n display at the whitney museum of modern art. richard powell is the curator. i am pleased to have him at this table. welcome. >> thank you. >> rose: great to have you back. we had a show how many years ago? >> 25 years ago. >> rose: before this show even existed. >> yeah. >> rose: put him in the context, archibald motley, 20th century art. >> archibald motley is a colorist and modernist who is inspired by the urban scene and african-american life. to contextualize him, one could place him in the category of american scene painting or one could put in a category of portraiture or the harlem renaissance or one could use all those categories to place him -- >> rose: and he stood tall in each of those. >> i'd say so, yes. >> rose: there hasn't been a retrospective on him for some 20 years. >> the last big show was at the chicago historical society, now called the chicag chicago histoy museum. it was in the '90s. our idea was in the 21s 21st century, this was a good time to look at motley

put him in the context, archibald motley, of 20th century art. >> archibald motley is a colorist andodernist who is inspired by the urban scene and african american life. to contextualize him, one could place him in the category of american scene painting, or one could put him in a category of portraiture, or one could put him in a category of the harlem renaissance, or one could use all of those categories to place him -- >> and he stood tall in each of those. >> i would say so, yes. >> rose: there hasn't been a retrospective on him for some 20 years. >> yes, there was the last-- the last big show was at the chicago historical society, now called the chicago history museum. it was in the 90s. and our idea was in the 21st century, this was a good time to look at motley again, and we thought this was an important moment to think about archibald motley and his work, given the changes in the art world, given the fact that african american artists are a lot more prominent now than they've ever been, given that there are a lot of artists that are very interested in satire and irony and hu

guest: archibald motley married his childhood sweetheart.hey had a formal relationship -- a very stormy relationship. it was not easy being interracial in the 1920's and 1930's. her family was estranged. this portrait shows her at the height of his talent and career and she is wearing a fox boa. she is a woman of success and connected to a prominent artist. nude portrait "a of my wife." guest: this was painted in paris. it speaks to modernity. i have described this in conjunction with a movement in germany about photographic accuracy and the undercurrent of dis-ease. one feels this in the portrait of edith. you can see paris. he underscores that this is a continental image. charlie: the next, but dutch the state. guest: as we say in the vernacular, motley was color struck. he was preoccupied with interracial mixtures, and legacy of louisiana. you have mixed-raised people and he is continuing the fascination in this portrait. i would add that this is a mixed-race woman who is a seductress. look at the sculpture to her left, the headless male

motley --ra old archibald motley was inspired i the urban and african american life. urban and african american life. scenetextualize, american painting, portraiture, the harlem renaissance, all of those categories. charlie: he stood tall in each. guest: i would say so. charlie: there has not been a retrospective on him in 20 years. guest: the last big show was at the chicago museum in the 1990's. the idea at the nasher was that this was a good time to look at him again and this was an important moment to think about him and his work, given the changes in the art world, given the changes and that there are a lot of artists that are interested in satire, irony, humor, provocation. that. fits into all of charlie: what do you mean by "jazz-age?" guest: it is a code for reference. the 1920's and 1930's were moments where americans and the world were inspired and moved by expressinion. black moderns a moment when african-american culture took the imagination and the artwork fit in to the ascetic. charlie: how was he influenced by chicago? guest: chicago was one of the most