Based on biblical texts and his own memory of the Sunday sermons of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, Jacob Lawrence's "Genesis Creation Sermon" series delivers a richly personal interpretation. Inspired by realism and details of iconography, Lawrence's "Genesis Creation Sermon" series also reveals his interest in references from art history. The bright colors and expressive, monumental preacher figure that stands central in each work reflect the artist's affinity for action and resonance given in the sermon.

Edwin A. Harleston applied his academic artistic training to his realistic portraiture of African Americans, receiving many commissions from the distinguished upper class while also painting the working class community around him. His portraits are noted for the use of rich tones and the elegant dignity with which he represented his sitters such as well-known community figures that ranged from a church reverend to a hospital nurse. In this portrait, Harleston captures the jovial expression of a seated woman in three-quarter profile.

Charles White is an acclaimed painter and muralist whose experience with the Works Progress Administration public projects enforced his desire to use art as a tool to educate about and promote African American contributions to culture and politics. His portraits are known for their representations of human dignity and the strength of working class communities. White is also renowned for his impeccable draftsmanship. His pencil renderings of the abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth served as preliminary drawings for a larger tableau.

Based on biblical texts and his own memory of the Sunday sermons of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, Jacob Lawrence's "Genesis Creation Sermon" series delivers a richly personal interpretation. Inspired by realism and details of iconography, Lawrence's "Genesis Creation Sermon" series also reveals his interest in references from art history. The bright colors and expressive, monumental preacher figure that stands central in each work reflect the artist's affinity for action and resonance given in the sermon.

Robert S. Duncanson was among the few African American painters with an active professional career during the 19th century. Studying art on his own, Duncanson was very much inspired by the Hudson River School painters and, in particular, the landscape painter Thomas Cole. During the 1840s Duncanson received many commissions and exhibited his portraits and later, after moving to Cincinnati, he became a much sought after landscape artist in light of his rendering of the Ohio River Valley.