William H. Johnson

William H. Johnson was one of the foremost artists during the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1901 as the son of a working class family. He was heavily influenced by modern expressionists during the 1920's and 1930's. Johnson worked mainly in New York, Paris, and Denmark. In 1926 he moved to Paris to study modernist art, and he also developed his own style; a realist-Impressionism. He moved back to New York when the threat of World War Two was beginning. After he moved back, he became caught up in the mix of the Harlem Renaissance. His painting Cafe depicts a scene of daily life with great intensity and personality. Cafe life was Johnson's favorite modernist subject of the time. The painting shows that Johnson stayed true to his roots by painting in a direct, graphic manner.