Gettin Religion 1948

Archibald Motley painted "Gettin Religion" in 1948 with oil on canvas. I love the kind of nocturnal buzz Motley gets out of this scene, all done with a tight palette of blues and oranges, a harmony that gives the whole painting a hum. Check out the surface - it's really worked, a build up of thin layers, almost like watercolor. See how the light from the lamp post kinda bleeds and glows? The figures are angular and cartoonish, but the feeling is thick with atmosphere. It's like he’s trying to capture a vibe, a sense of collective energy, not just a picture of people on the street. I like the way the light makes a halo over the heads of the musicians. Motley's always exploring the complexities of identity and community, and you can see him doing something similar in his earlier paintings of Bronzeville, where he's capturing the same kind of social energy. He reminds me a little of Jacob Lawrence too, in the way he uses color and pattern to tell a story, but Motley's got this extra layer of playful abstraction. It's a painting that invites you to feel, not just to look.