Authenticity/assimilation/appropriation: Cultural mashup and race reckoning

This article explains the connections between African Art, Art Deco aesthetics and Jazz Age illustration by and about people of colour. Appropriation of African aesthetics influenced Art Deco, which was considered a modernist style despite its traditional roots. New Negro aesthetics of the Harlem Renaissance embraced authentic African tribal art and design, as well as its assimilation into Art Deco, believed to be European in origin. Representation of Black people in illustration reflected societal racial attitudes and stereotypes. Contemplating intersections between art, music and race in the Jazz Age offers a way to look at cultural suppression and unacknowledged appropriation.