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>> These piece of artwork are really interesting
for what they show us about the diversity
of the black experience and black presence in Britain.
We're trying to find out more and more about the sitters,
and this is quite a difficult thing because unlike the artists
who became famous, often the sitters didn't leave much trace
of their experiences behind,
unless they became quite notable, famous artist models.
So really we've got to try and find evidence
of who the sitters were through the archival collections
of the artists, through tracing of the artists' relatives,
and also through looking at clues
within the pieces of artwork.
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We're kicking off in 1919
because that's the year that's seen
to begin the Harlem renaissance, which was a time
when African-Americans in Harlem,
in New York were beginning to take what's seen
as a cultural revolution,
a cultural renaissance in New York.
It was political, but it was also about jazz,
about music, about art.
But it wasn't just in New York,
it obviously has an impact throughout the United States,
but also in Europe.
And of course people have looked
at the influence of jazz in London.
But what we're hoping to look at is specifically at artists,
partly because that might represent more ordinary people.
>> One of the pieces which we're interested
in is Anne Tooth's 'Seated Man' from 1934.
It's a representation of an ordinary man,
portrayed in a relaxed style, as opposed to some
of the other images we often find representing African
and Asian people, where they might be exoticised
and racialised with various props, and the type of clothing
which people are made to appear in.
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>> Here we are on Fitzroy Street which,
during the interval periods, was the home
to various artist studios.
Many of the portraits of Black sitters
that we're exploring would have been created in this street.
We can see there was a small but significant Black presence
in Bloomsbury at the time, and this was mainly
because of the location of the universities,
but also you can see a Black presence in terms of theatre,
singers, musicians making their headquarters here,
as well as writers, political activists.
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One of the reasons why some Black people didn't stay here is
because there was a well-recognised issue of racism
within the area, and there was a colour bar
where many Black people found they couldn't find
accommodation, and they were turned away.
We have Black communities throughout London
in different locations,
including most prominently the centre of London,
who were historically employed in the shipping industry.
And there was extreme racism within the shipping industry,
culminating in the 1919 riots, which occurred in 9 port towns
across the country, and London was one of the ports
that was hit by these anti-Black riots.
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We're thinking that one of the reasons why some
of the sitters might have worked with the artists was due
to trying to find bits of employment
to fill the gap of their income.
>> These might have been people who were dockers who are looking
for some work to keep them going if they can't get any dock work
or ship work, or women who work as domestic servants,
that are also working as artists.
They're not exotic models, however they might be portrayed
in those images, they're ordinary people.