Art exhibit

I was enticed to do a review of an exhibit called African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond on the Smithsonian American Art Museum website. I expected to find a highly antiquated collection of artwork that would bore me; I found artwork that ranged from the 60's to the 90's with themes that still occurring today. One piece is a dramatization of New Yorkers in their everyday fight to get to their train in time in Penn Station. It was appropriately titled Penn Station At War Time and even though Joseph Delaney painted it in 1943, this mad rush of people is still alive today in cities. This collection's title is about some of the darker periods in American history which I believe had good effects on history. Most of the pieces showed ideas of misery and hardship but they also showed strength and persistence though these hard times. I was intrigued by these pieces because of how strong the compositions were and because of the ideas behind them. The mix of old and new worked perfectly for me. They did not feel like historical paintings even though they delt with historical events. Overall, I enjoyed this exhibit and I think it would be very neat to someday see in person.