Harlem Turns White

"Harlem Turns White" is a 1955 painting by Norman Lewis, an Abstract Expressionist artist. The painting depicts a mass of abstracted figures at the bottom of the canvas, with a white haze settling over them. This work can be interpreted in various ways, but it evokes questions of identity and the tensions between Black and white communities. Lewis, an African American artist, created this piece during a time when abstraction was predominantly a white, male-dominated aesthetic. The painting reflects the demographic shifts occurring in Harlem, a district in New York City that has historically been a center for Black culture and art, including the Harlem Renaissance.123