The Delaware Art Museum presents “Jazz Age Illustration,” opening on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, and running through Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. This much-anticipated original exhibition kicks off DelArt’s “Year of the Illustrator.”
“Jazz Age Illustration” is the first major exhibition to survey the art of popular illustration in the United States between 1919 and 1942, drawing from DelArt’s extraordinary illustration collection and showcasing loans from museums, libraries and private collectors. Featuring more than 120 works of art by prominent illustrators, “Jazz Age Illustration” examines the new mass visual culture that emerged after the end of the First World War—a period characterized by cultural vibrancy and dramatic social change.
“Jazz Age Illustration” tells a story of popular culture and the press that reflects the energy and diversity of this iconic era. Illustrators recorded the rise of jazz musicians, flappers and film stars. It was the age of the Harlem Renaissance with magazines and newspapers dedicated to African American audiences featuring extraordinary artists like Aaron Douglas and Loïs Mailou Jones. Howard Pyle’s students Frank Schoonover and N. C. Wyeth were reaching the pinnacle of their careers during this era, and women artists were forging successful careers as illustrators. The exhibition includes original paintings and drawings that appeared in “Vogue,” “Vanity Fair” and “The Saturday Evening Post,” and in books by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alain Locke.
Learn more at Jazz Age Illustration – Delaware Art Museum (delart.org).