From 1933 to 1935, Lewis enrolled in her Savage School of Arts and Crafts based in Harlem, which was a center for black artists at the time. The young artist met the sculptor Augusta Savage who was one of the most important African-American art educators, as well as a renowned artist. In the early 1930s, inspired by the teachings of philosopher Alain Locke and his New Negro Movement, Lewis was excited by African art, which he arduously studied in several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art during the 1935 exhibition African Sculpture. Oil on canvas - The Norman Lewis Collection The black figure with her distinct angularity reminds us that Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque also looked to African statuary as the foundation for their own work. Lewis balances this work between realism and modernism in order to both depict the black community and demonstrate his growing commitment to the art of the new. Clearly, the artist is emulating early European modernism and the School of Paris, using these influences as a lens through which to approach Harlemites. Lewis subdivides the figure and ground into planar shapes of distinct colors the yellow hat which shields the woman's face is the brightest note of color. Here, the form is simplified and color and design are emphasized. The Yellow Hat shows Lewis's style in transition from Social Realism to abstraction. Painted early in his career while influenced by Locke's New Negro Movement, this work's subject is a seated, isolated African-American woman captured in thought.

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