{"data":{"id":117266,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/117266","is_boosted":true,"title":"Nightlife","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBwAFAPUAABgSGSUdIi4dIiQfKCseKDAeKTgcKD8fLi0mLTUlLj8hLT4nLUUkK0AsMkQoNkMsNEUtN0krNUMuO1UiMlYrN1AvOUUwOUs0P085PlIwN1c0P1oxOkEsQFE8R1E+TGhET2NEW3ZPVXRPWwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAHAAUAAAYhwMXDAtF8RAlMR3LxVACIBiMTERAKik3IMTAcJhQQJxAEADs=","width":12755,"height":9498,"alt_text":"Painting of a crowded bar scene where African American people dance and drink together, some sitting at the bar, some at small tables, and many on the dance floor."},"main_reference_number":"1992.89","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":33,"date_start":1943,"date_end":1943,"date_display":"1943","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Archibald John Motley Jr. (American, 1891\u20131981)","place_of_origin":"Chicago","description":"

A palpable energy and sense of movement enliven Nightlife<\/em>, Archibald Motley\u2019s portrayal of a crowded cabaret in the South Side neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago. With stylized figures, an array of diagonal lines, and heightened colors keyed to shades of magenta and violet, the artist captured the exuberance of city dwellers out on the town. Motley created a network of gestures and glances among the people, drawing attention to the various social interactions that animate the scene.<\/p>\n

The composition is an exploration of artificial lighting. Motley was inspired, in part, to paint Nightlife<\/em> after having seen Edward Hopper\u2019s Nighthawks<\/em><\/a> (1942.51), which had entered the Art Institute\u2019s collection the prior year.<\/p>\n","short_description":"A native Chicagoan and graduate of the School of the Art Institute, Motley used his art to represent the vibrancy of African American culture, frequently portraying young, sophisticated city dwellers out on the town. One of Motley\u2019s most celebrated paintings, Nightlife<\/em> depicts a crowded cabaret in the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood. The dynamic composition, intense lighting, and heightened colors vividly express the scene's liveliness.","dimensions":"91.4 \u00d7 121.3 cm (36 \u00d7 47 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":121,"height":91,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Signed and dated recto, bottom-right, on leg, in red paint: \"A. J. MOTLEY. \/ 1943\".","credit_line":"Purchased with funds provided by Jamee J. and Marshall Field, Jack and Sandra Guthman, Ben W. Heineman, Ruth Horwich, Lewis and Susan Manilow, Beatrice C. Mayer, Charles A. Meyer, John D. Nichols, and Mr. and Mrs. Edward Byron Smith, Jr.; James W. Alsdorf Memorial Fund; Goodman Endowment Fund","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Jontyle Theresa Robinson and Wendy Greenhouse, The Art of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.<\/em>, exh. cat. (Chicago Historical Society, 1991), 123, cat. 51.\n\n\"African Americans in Art: Selections from The Art Institute of Chicago,\" Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em>, 24, no. 2 (1992): 177\u2013179, fig. 11 (ill.).\n\nWayne Craven, \u201cAn Awakening,\u201d American Art<\/em>, 11, no. 2 (Summer, 1997): 42\u201344.\n\nAmy M. Mooney, \u201cRepresenting Race: Disjunctures in the Work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 24, no. 2 (1999): 162\u2013179, fig. 11 (ill.).\n\nAndrea D. Barnwell and Kirsten P. Buick, \u201cA Portfolio of Works by African American Artists Continuing the Dialogue: A Work in Progress,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 24, no. 2 (1999): 185\u2013186.\n\nAmy Mooney, Archibald J. Motley Jr.<\/em> (Pomegranate, 2004), 88, 90, pl. 40 (ill.).\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), cat. 146.\n\nJudith Barter et al., Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 132\u201333, 224, cat. 40, fig. 28 (ill.).\n\nSarah Kelly Oehler, They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 46\u201347, cat. 33 (ill.).\n\nDenise Murrell et al., The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism<\/em>, exh. cat. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2024), 18\u201320, 243, cat. 96, fig. 10 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Chicago Historical Society, The Art of Archibald J. Motley Jr.<\/em>, Oct. 23, 1991\u2013Mar. 17, 1992, cat. 51; New York, Studio Museum of Harlem, Apr. 5\u2013June 10, 1992; Atlanta, High Museum, June 29\u2013Sept. 25, 1992; Washington DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Oct. 10, 1992\u2013Jan. 3, 1993.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine<\/em><\/a>, Nov. 10, 2013\u2013Jan. 27, 2014, cat. 40; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Feb. 22\u2013May 18, 2014.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration, 1910\u20131950<\/em><\/a>, Mar. 3\u2013June 3, 2013, cat. 33.\n\nDurham, NC, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist<\/em>, Jan. 30\u2013June 1, 2014; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum of Art, June 14\u2013Sept. 7, 2014; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oct. 19, 2014\u2013Feb. 1, 2015; Chicago Cultural Center, Mar. 6\u2013Aug. 31, 2015; Whitney Museum of American Art, Oct. 2, 2015\u2013Jan. 17, 2016 (Fort Worth only), no cat.\n\nMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, Afro-Atlantic Histories<\/em>, Oct. 24, 2021\u2013Jan. 17, 2022; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Apr. 10\u2013July 17, 2022 (Washington only), not in cat.\n\nNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism<\/em>, Feb. 25\u2013July 28, 2024, cat. 96.\n\nSeattle Art Museum, Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest<\/em>, Mar. 5\u2013Aug. 2, 2026, cat.","provenance_text":"Costella M. Gwin (1935\u20131985; born Costella Maria Dotson), Chicago, by 1985 [Robinson and Greenhouse 1991, 141]; by descent to Deborah Gwin Hill, Chicago, 1985; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago 1992.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":1992,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":1280,"copyright_notice":"\u00a9 Valerie Gerrard Browne \/ Chicago History Museum \/ Bridgeman Images","has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":356,"l":32,"s":39,"percentage":0.00013454729663526927,"population":163},"latitude":41.8792170372255,"longitude":-87.6222642883657,"latlon":"41.879217037226,-87.622264288366","is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":"

On loan to Seattle Art Museum in Seattle for Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest<\/i><\/p>","gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":42445,"artist_title":"Archibald John Motley Jr.","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[42445],"artist_titles":["Archibald John Motley Jr."],"category_ids":["PC-142","PC-154","PC-832","PC-830","PC-831","PC-827","PC-3"],"category_titles":["African American artists","Chicago Artists","Drinking and Dining","African Diaspora","Essentials","SAIC Alumni and Faculty","Arts of the Americas"],"term_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","nightlife","Modernism","painting (image making)","canvas","nightclubs","African American","Black culture","alcohol","bars","modern and contemporary art","drinking","dancing","dining","fashion","people","oil painting"],"style_id":"TM-5981","style_title":"Modernism","alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":["TM-5981"],"style_titles":["Modernism"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-155"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-155"],"classification_titles":["painting","modern and contemporary art"],"subject_id":"TM-12278","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12280","TM-12272","TM-12273","TM-12281","TM-12282","TM-12077","TM-12142","TM-12076","TM-8663","TM-8810"],"subject_ids":["TM-12278","TM-12280","TM-12272","TM-12273","TM-12281","TM-12282","TM-12077","TM-12142","TM-12076","TM-8663","TM-8810"],"subject_titles":["nightlife","nightclubs","African American","Black culture","alcohol","bars","drinking","dancing","dining","fashion","people"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-3891","alt_technique_ids":["TM-4273"],"technique_ids":["TM-3891","TM-4273"],"technique_titles":["painting (image making)","oil painting"],"theme_titles":["African American artists","Chicago Artists","Drinking and Dining","African Diaspora","Essentials","SAIC Alumni and Faculty"],"image_id":"ec19d5f1-ae0f-5186-d421-4a53dca5fb90","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Nightlife","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1992.89"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Nightlife"],"weight":105937,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-06-22T00:30:01-05:00","updated_at":"2026-06-22T03:45:07-05:00","timestamp":"2026-06-22T22:33:45-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.14"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}