W. E. Scott’s The Promised Land (c. 1935). Photo courtesy of the Harlem Y.M.C.A.

The reason is that behind this incredible landmark building, erected in 1931-32, lies an inspiring story. Inside are important, historic public works of art, some of which have fallen into disrepair. But just recently, despite our battered economy, some dedicated Y officials have managed to raise funds to restore them. The story of the Y itself and the reason for its extensive decorative work, coupled with the miracle of restoration already begun, is a fascinating one.

The history of this building is inextricably linked with that of racism in the United States. Indeed, the reason for the extensive cultural programs and beautiful decoration was that, during the 1930s, African-Americans had few opportunities for cultural enrichment and almost no choice of places to stay in New York City. With this in mind, the Harlem Y was built to serve these functions in the city. The list of important African-Americans who either stayed at the Y or contributed to programs there reads like a Who's Who of African-American history. It includes writers Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, and Ralph Ellison; civil rights activists Malcolm X and Martin Luther King; artists Aaron Douglas, Gordon Parks, William E. Scott, and Romare Bearden; and musicians and actors Paul Robeson, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Eubie Blake, W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington, Cicely Tyson, Sidney Poitier, Danny Glover, and Eartha Kitt, to name a few.

On a wall in a room behind the lobby, Aaron Douglas's mural, Evolution of Negro Dance (1935) is probably the most important artwork at the "Y." Depicting silhouetted forms of people of color in a stylized, art-nouveau vein, it uses highly decorative patterns, light rays, and luminescent layers to evoke rhythms of song, dance, and instrumentation. The vitality of form reflects the resiliency of spirit of the people. Douglas (1898-1979), more than any other artist, can be called the "official" painter of the Harlem Renaissance. He left his native Kansas in 1924 for New York City, where he studied with Winold Reiss, a German painter who encouraged him in his creation of a unique, African-American idiom, one parallel to that of his white modernist contemporaries, Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, and Joseph Stella. In many ways, Douglas's art can be considered an equivalent in painting to the poetry of Langston Hughes. Both men used African and African-American rhythms and cadences in their work. And both were among the first to break through white-only barriers in their art forms. It was Hughes, writing in the Y.M.C.A.'s The New Sign magazine in November 1931, who suggested that Douglas was the only black artist to eschew stiff academic conventions in order to portray the inner spirit of human beings through rhythm and tone. Douglas created his Y.M.C.A. mural nearly contemporaneously with murals for the Schomburg Center in New York, Howard University's Creation and The Unknown; and Fisk University's Course of Negro History, begun in 1929. The paint has cracked and peeled over the years, leaving just a vestige of the beauty of the original mural. Work has already begun to restore it, and the three conservators hope to finish by this Christmas. Although Douglas also made a number of book illustrations, his total output is not large—so the preservation of each and every work is crucial.

TOP: A detail of Evolution of Negro Dance (1935) as it currently awaits restoration. BOTTOM: Aaron Douglas’s mural Evolution of Negro Dance (1935) as it originally appeared. Photos courtesy of the Harlem Y.M.C.A.

Although I first heard about the Y because of the Douglas mural, it turned out that it also possessed semi-abstract, decorated ceilings by an artist named Alfred Floegel and a painting, The Promised Land (c. 1935), by William Edouard Scott (1884-1964), as well as hand-carved wooden doors and decorative elements. Scott was a student of Henry Tanner, the first African-American artist to attain international renown. Scott's dignified painting, in dire need of conservation, depicts black workers and artists looking off into the future, full of hope. The ambitious ceiling decorations by Floegel are titled Evolution of the Negro Race. Because of their location, they are in slightly better condition than the other paintings, but they too need conservation. Cultural facilities at the Y also included a little theater, where first-rate programs were produced, and a writer's workshop. The building itself is 11 stories high, made of brick, with neo-Georgian style details, and its tower remains a major presence in the Harlem skyline even today.

In 1931 Langston Hughes made the observation that, although black performers of stage, screen, and music might be better known in their own time, it is the work of the writers, painters, and sculptors that lives on after their lifetime. Hughes specifically singled out "the novels of Winston McKay, the poems of Countee Cullen, and the murals of Aaron Douglas...," which would live on for hundreds of years. However, without conservation and restoration, these artworks will die, along with their creators, and there will be no heritage at all.

Douglas wrote to Hughes: "Let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible. Let's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective, earthy. Spiritually earthy, dynamic."

That is exactly what Douglas achieved in this mural—what he himself called "the impossible."

If you hurry, you can see history in the making. The mural will remain on display while conservation takes place. And the building is, of course, open to the public. The Harlem Y.M.C.A. is located at 180 West 135th Street. Take the Number 2 or 3 subway to 135th Street and walk west, one-half block.

Art historian Greta Berman has been on the liberal arts faculty since 1979.