BIOGRAPHY
Jacob Lawrence took Works Progress Administration art classes in New York (1934–7), and also studied at the Harlem Art Workshop, New York (1935) and the American Artists’ School (1937). Lawrence’s vigorous social realism quickly brought him recognition, and by 1941 he was the first African American artist to be represented in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Lawrence's early work comprised genre depictions of everyday life in Harlem, as well as major series devoted to black history (1940–41; see And the Migrants Kept Coming and In the North the Negro had Better Educational Facilities). The 41 pictures of the Touissant L’Ouverture series (1937–8) are addressed to Haiti’s struggle for independence in the 19th century. Small pictures, executed in tempera on paper, they are characteristic of his use of water-based media throughout his career; the schematic designs, flat space, and vigorous, angular figures are typical of his style both at the beginning and the end of his life. Tombstones (1942) exemplifies his interest in subjects drawn from everyday life, his leanings towards regionalism, and the occasionally mordant religiosity and symbolism of his work: it depicts a monumental mason’s shop in Harlem. A period teaching at Black Mountain College after World War II brought him under the influence of Josef Albers, which consolidated his interest in form and design, and following this his realism became more stylized. For a brief period the surfaces of his work fragmented and became highly patterned: the Theatre series (1951–2) is characteristic. By the late 1960s his style had simplified again, resembling his approach in the 1930s.
Jacob Lawrence took Works Progress Administration art classes in New York (1934–7), and also studied at the Harlem Art Workshop, New York (1935) and the American Artists’ School (1937). Lawrence’s vigorous social realism quickly brought him recognition, and by 1941 he was the first African American artist to be represented in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Lawrence's early work comprised genre depictions of everyday life in Harlem, as well as major series devoted to black history (1940–41; see And the Migrants Kept Coming and In the North the Negro had Better Educational Facilities). The 41 pictures of the Touissant L’Ouverture series (1937–8) are addressed to Haiti’s struggle for independence in the 19th century. Small pictures, executed in tempera on paper, they are characteristic of his use of water-based media throughout his career; the schematic designs, flat space, and vigorous, angular figures are typical of his style both at the beginning and the end of his life. Tombstones (1942) exemplifies his interest in subjects drawn from everyday life, his leanings towards regionalism, and the occasionally mordant religiosity and symbolism of his work: it depicts a monumental mason’s shop in Harlem. A period teaching at Black Mountain College after World War II brought him under the influence of Josef Albers, which consolidated his interest in form and design, and following this his realism became more stylized. For a brief period the surfaces of his work fragmented and became highly patterned: the Theatre series (1951–2) is characteristic. By the late 1960s his style had simplified again, resembling his approach in the 1930s.
RESOURCES
1. Barber shop
2. Jacob Lawrence set simple captions to stark, evocative pictures, such as in Migration Series. Have students, especially English Language Learners or those struggling with English, caption pictures with sentences. This can be done to reinforce plot (beginning, middle, end), author's purpose, or a variety of other skills. Narrative poems (like "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) work well. Similarly, any sort of poem can be broken up in this way: students find one picture per line of poetry, and have the poetic line act as a caption. This will force students to think critically about each line of a poem, especially if the lines are not complete sentences.
3. Works of art by Jacob Lawrence in the Crystal Bridges Museum main collection:
Ambulance Call ; Builders No. 3 ; People in Other Rooms (Harlem Street Scene) ; Revolt on the Amistad
2. Jacob Lawrence set simple captions to stark, evocative pictures, such as in Migration Series. Have students, especially English Language Learners or those struggling with English, caption pictures with sentences. This can be done to reinforce plot (beginning, middle, end), author's purpose, or a variety of other skills. Narrative poems (like "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) work well. Similarly, any sort of poem can be broken up in this way: students find one picture per line of poetry, and have the poetic line act as a caption. This will force students to think critically about each line of a poem, especially if the lines are not complete sentences.
3. Works of art by Jacob Lawrence in the Crystal Bridges Museum main collection:
Ambulance Call ; Builders No. 3 ; People in Other Rooms (Harlem Street Scene) ; Revolt on the Amistad
REFERENCES
Morgan Falconer. "Lawrence, Jacob." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T097595>.
Artwork behind title: Lawrence's Ambulance Call (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
Morgan Falconer. "Lawrence, Jacob." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T097595>.
Artwork behind title: Lawrence's Ambulance Call (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
