Hot Rhythm

No artist chronicled Black American life in Chicago during the middle of the twentieth century more insightfully than Archibald J. Motley, Jr. Motley moved with his family to Chicago as a young child. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute, he began painting scenes of everyday Black American life in the city. A mature work by the artist, "Hot Rhythm" has flattened, collapsed, and fragmented dancers and a band arranged in rhythmic order. The stylized and energetic musicians and dances conveys the lively rhythms of the jazz concert.