Jacob Lawrence
"The community [in Harlem] let me develop...I painted the only way I knew how to paint...I tried to put the images down the way I related to the community...I was being taught...to see."
Jacob
Lawrence was an American painter who was born on September 7, 1917 in Atlantic
City, New Jersey. Lawrence was one of the most widely acclaimed
African-American artist in the 20th century. He attended the American Artists
School in New York, where he developed his own unique style of modernism and
began creating narrative series for all his paintings. He is best known for his
Migration of the Negro that was
displayed at Edith Halphert’s gallery in 1942. Lawrence was then acknowledged
for being the first African-American to join the gallery. As an artist,
Lawrence relied heavily on historical research that included texts, memoirs,
newspapers, and images that were prominent during the Harlem Renaissance.
Windows, 1977
Lithograph on Rives BFK paper
17 3/4 x 22 inches (image); 21 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches (paper)
edition of 300
In
1971, Lawrence was offered a job teaching art at the University of Washington
where he concentrated much of his work on “topic of Builders”.
Jacob
Lawrence combined Social Realism, abstraction, pared-down composition, and bold
colors to express the experiences of African Americans. In addition, he translated human struggle
into his paintings. For example, Lawrence expressed political struggles like
Jim Crow into his paintings. Lawrence had a powerful styles that expressed the
pathos of his neighborhood and all of its occupants.
Toussaint at Ennery, 1989
Silkscreen on Bainbridge Two-Ply Rag
paper
18 5/8 x 29 inches (image); 22 x 32
1/8 inches (paper)
edition of 99
During
World War II, Lawrence was assigned as a combat artist. In 1946, he received a
Guggenheim Foundation grant to paint his War series. Then in 1947, Fortune
Magazine asked him to create ten paintings that portrayed the postwar
conditions in the south. He used water-based paint on hardboard panels with
bright and bold colors. In the 1950s, his perspective became more complex
because he art became more symbolic.
They were very poor
1940-41
12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
During
and after the World War, Lawrence continued to attract a vast audience through
personal connection. For example, the painting displayed earlier, They were very poor, replicated the
hardships that many African Americans experienced. He was initially influenced
by Mexican muralists and early artists like Goya. He comprised about 60
“tempera” works with visual motifs to depict everyday life around him. He
achieved immediate success through his own visual representation of his
culture.
Lawrence
also painted frescoes that are exhibited on the Times Square subway and murals
for the University of Washington.
I
chose to study Jacob Lawrence because of his use of abstraction to depict a
story. His paintings develop a narrative that many of his viewers could relate
too. With bright colors and bold subjects, he creates a universal appeal. I
loved that his work illustrated the everyday life of many African Americans and
their political struggles in the south. He did not just focus on human
aspirations but on migration, war, and mental illness. Lawrence took time to
study the history of African Americans and connected it to contemporary
experiences around him.
References
“Jacob Lawrence Biography, Art, and Analysis of
Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-lawrence-jacob.htm.
“Jacob Lawrence.” DC Moore Gallery, www.dcmooregallery.com/artists/jacob-lawrence/featured-works?view=slider#5.
Lawrence, Jacob. “Jacob Lawrence. They Were Very
Poor. 1940-41 | MoMA.” The Museum of
Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/78552.
"Lawrence, Jacob Armstead." Benezit Dictionary of Artists.
2011-10-31.Oxford University Press. Date of access 25 Feb. 2018
<http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00105617>
<http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00105617>
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