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Go Down Death

1934
(American, 1899–1979)
America, 20th century
oil on Masonite
Framed: 124.5 x 94 x 3.8 cm (49 x 37 x 1 1/2 in.); Unframed: 121.9 x 91.5 cm (48 x 36 in.)
John L. Severance Fund and Gift of Prof. and Mrs. David C. Driskell 2005.181
Art © Heirs of Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Location: 226A American Modern
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Did You Know?

Douglas founded the art department at Fisk University, where he also created many celebrated murals.

Description

The leading painter of the Harlem Renaissance, Douglas based this painting on an illustration he made for God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927), a book by noted author and civil rights advocate James Weldon Johnson. Its subject tells the story of a winged angel of death who races through the heavens on horseback to rescue a woman from a life of suffering.
Go Down Death

Go Down Death

1934

Aaron Douglas

(American, 1899–1979)
America, 20th century

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Winged Figure on Horseback

God's Trombones

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