Stunning Images Detail Chicago's Jazz Renaissance

By Nicole Campbell,

Published January 29, 2014 at 12:29 PM EST

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Archibald J. Motley Jr., Hot Rhythm, 1961. Oil on canvas, 40 x 48.375 inches (101.6 x 122.9 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne."

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Archibald J. Motley Jr., Blues, 1929. Oil on canvas, 36 x 42 inches (91.4 x 106.7 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne."

Nasher Museum

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Archibald J. Motley Jr., The Octoroon Girl, 1925. Oil on canvas, 38 x 30.25 inches (96.5 x 76.8 cm). Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, New York. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. "

Nasher Museum

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Archibald J. Motley Jr., Black Belt, 1934. Oil on canvas, 33 x 40.5 inches (83.8 x 102.9 cm). Collection of the Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia. © Valerie Gerrard Browne."

Nasher Museum

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Archibald J. Motley Jr.,Mending Socks, 1924. Oil on canvas, 43.875 x 40 inches (111.4 x 101.6 cm). Collection of the Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Burton Emmett Collection, 58.1.2801. © Valerie Gerrard Browne."

Nasher Museum

Archibald Motley is one of the most well-known painters of the Harlem Renaissance even though he never lived in Harlem. He spent most of his career documenting the nightlife scene in both Chicago and Paris.

Motley's images explode with color. Reds, blues greens. It's almost impossible to look away. Yet his work is not widely available to the public. Many of his most important creations are held in private collections. But now, 42 works from 1919 to 1960 are on display at Duke University's Nasher Museum.

The exhibit "Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist," opened January 30th and will run through May 11. Curator Richard Powell will hold a Curator Conversation on February 6th at the Nasher Museum.