Jr. Artist Archibald J. Motley Jr. was one of the first American painters who devoted his career primarily to African American subject matter.
T here is nothing borrowed, nothing copied, just an unraveling of the Negro soul.
The Negro in Art. Archibald J. Motley, Jr. was one of the first American painters who devoted his career primarily to African-American subject matter and one of the first successful black artists in this century. Motley's paintings were frank representations of black life. His work ranged from sensitive portraits to stylized street and cabaret scenes. Motley lived and painted here in his family home at 350 West 60th Street for most of his life.