Archibald John Motley, Jr.
American, 1891-1981

Nightlife, 1943

Oil on canvas
91.4 x 121.3 cm (36 x 47 3/4 in.)
Signed and dated lower right: A. J. MOTLEY / 1943
Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. 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. E.B. Smith, Jr.; James W. Alsdorf Memorial Fund; Goodman Endowment, 1992.89

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Chicago Historical Society, The Art of Archibald J. Motley, Jr., October 23, 1991-March 17, 1992, no. 51; traveled to New York, Studio Museum of Harlem; Atlanta, High Museum; Washington D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Publication History

Jontyle Theresa Robinson and Wendy Greenhouse, The Art of Archibald J. Motley, Jr. exh. cat. (Chicago Historical Society, 1991), p. 23, 123, cat. 51.

African Americans in Art: Selections from The Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 24, 2, (1992), p. 177-179, fig. 11, p. 177.

Wayne Craven, “An Awakening,” American Art, 11, 2 (Summer, 1997), pp. 42-44.

Amy M. Mooney, “Representing Race: Disjunctures in the Work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 24, 2 (1999), pp. 162-179, fig. 11.

Andrea D. Barnwell and Kirsten P. Buick, “A Portfolio of Works by African American Artists Continuing the Dialogue: A Work in Progress,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 24, 2 (1999), pp. 185-186.

Amy Mooney, Archibald J. Motley Jr. (San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2004), p. 88, pl. 40 p. 90.

Judith A. Barter et al., "American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955," (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2009), cat. 146.

Ownership History

Archibald J. Motley, Jr., 1943. Costella M. Gwin, by 1985; by descent to Deborah Gwin Hill, Chicago, 1985; sold to the Art Institute 1992.