Harmon Foundation Exhibition of Negro Art, January 5-31, 1932

The William E. Harmon Foundation was established in 1922 by real estate developer William Elmer Harmon. It originally supported causes as varied as playgrounds, biblical films and nursing programs. But it is better known today as one of the first major supporters of African American creativity and ingenuity.

Harmon grew up in the Midwest, where his father was an officer in the 10th Cavalry regiment, a black unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Growing up among the soldiers likely had an impact on his attitudes toward blacks, and in particular, Harmon himself became interested in supporting them after meeting an artist who was unable to sell his paintings because of his race.

The Harmon Foundation gained its now well-known focus in 1925 when it began presenting cash awards to African Americans for distinguished achievements in eight fields: business, education, fine arts, literature, music, race relations, religious service, and science. The award, William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes, was created in 1926. Hale Woodruff and Palmer Hayden were the very first recipients of this award. Between 1928 and 1933, the Foundation was one of the first to give national recognition to the achievements of African Americans.

The Foundation is best known for its impact on African American art of the Harlem Renaissance. Only a few years after the first awards were presented, the annual program was receiving such large numbers of high-quality art works that they began organizing an exhibition to provide an opportunity for the candidates to show and sell their work. The 1932 exhibition at the Legion of Honor was one of the Foundation’s annual Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists, conceived by President Mary Brady in 1927. This series offered Black artists the first serious venue for exhibition available exclusively for their work on a something-approaching national basis. Key elements of the Harmon art exhibitions were offers of ""substantial prizes"" together with gold, bronze medals, and, perhaps more importantly, the Harmon Foundation arranged for these exhibitions to travel, opening spaces for the artwork where it would have been challenging for individual artists to gain exposure.

Despite its advances, the Foundation faced criticism for actually perpetuating racial segregation in its all-Black exhibitions, as well as in utilizing patriarchal practices like using mostly white juries. Artist Romare Bearden wrote a scathing opinion article in 1934 in which he accused the Foundation of coddling artists and lowering artistic standards. The Harmon Foundation did later shift its focus from the awards to different avenues of support for Black artists. Nonetheless, during its existence, the purpose of the awards was to stimulate creative achievement among and to bring attention to the work being accomplished by African Americans, and it became almost synonymous with Black visual art.

When the Foundation closed in 1967, it dispersed its considerable art collection among several institutions, including the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Sources:
Evenhaugen, Anne. “African American Art and the Harmon Foundation.” Smithsonian Libraries / Unbound, February 22, 2013. https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2013/02/22/african-american-art-and-the-harmon-foundation/#.Yo5N9qjMKUk.
Wikipedia contributors, ""William E. Harmon Foundation,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_E._Harmon_Foundation&oldid=1066707987 (accessed May 25, 2022).