Jazz Age Illustration

A gorgeous look at popular illustrators of the Jazz Age and their influential role in the dynamic culture of the 1920s and '30s.

The 1920s in the United States was characterised by economic prosperity and dramatic social change. Known as the Jazz Age, it was a time when Black music, art, and literature became a powerful cultural force. Shifting roles for women and trends in youth culture coalesced in the figure of the flapper, causing a moral panic chronicled in the expanding popular press.

Exploring how the art of popular illustration helped shape this new consciousness and impacted publishing, politics, and daily life, this volume features works by artists such as Aaron Douglas, Nell Brinkley, John Held Jr., and Loïs Mailou Jones. Their striking images illustrated the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Crisis, Liberty, and the Saturday Evening Post, as well as newspapers, novels, and books for children.

Essays foreground the contributions of women and Black artists; draw parallels between music, fashion, and the aesthetics of popular illustration; discuss the impact of the Harlem Renaissance and the national growth of the Black press; highlight the legacy of illustrator Howard Pyle and his students; and consider the appropriation of the subversive jazz culture by a white audience.

Distributed for the Delaware Art Museum

Exhibition Schedule:

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington
(October 5, 2024–January 26, 2025)

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA
(November 8, 2025–April 6, 2026)