JacobLAWRENCE(1917-2000)A social realist, Jacob Lawrence brought the African Americanexperience to life by painting black and brown figures contrastedagainst vivid hues. He is best known for creating various seriesof panels that depict the lives of important Black Americansthroughout history, as well as scenes of everyday life in the Blackcommunity.Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lawrence spent his teen yearsin New York City. At thirteen, he was introduced to art throughan after-school program and went on to attend classes at theHarlem Art Workshop. Using art to tell stories, Lawrence’s firstpanel series, The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture (1937), documentedthe achievements of the revolutionary founder of the Republicof Haiti. Believing that L’Ouverture’s prodigiousness could notbe captured in a single painting, Lawrence produced forty-onepanels using bright colors and simple forms to evoke the dramaof L’Ouverture’s life. While the works garnered critical acclaimfor Lawrence, his most famous series is The Migration of the Negro(1940-1941), a sixty-panel series depicting African Americanmigration from the South to industrial cities in the North between1910 to 1940. Migration led to Lawrence being the first Black artistrepresented by a mainstream New York City gallery.Among the many teaching positions Lawrence held, he served asprofessor of art at the University of Washington in his later years.He painted until his death at eighty-three, passing with his wife ofsixty years, artist Gwendolyn Knight, at his side.JACOB LAWRENCEINTIMATE WORKS OF ARTIt is hard for us to think of which work we like thebest. We love the Betye Saar. We think it’s a verystrong piece. As we said, we also love the ElizabethCatlett. We are drawn to that quality of strength. Wealso should be sure not to overlook the small JacobLawrence piece, The Prayer, which is an absolutejewel in our collection. We adore that work. It wouldbe welcome in a major museum. They would liketo have it, but it is very small. And, you know, in amuseum it would just be sitting there as a minor thing,but to us that Jacob Lawrence piece is truly a jewel.That piece brings to mind that there are two kinds ofart. There are museum pieces that require enormouswalls. The Taubman Museum of Art is very fortunateto have galleries that will accommodate such work.Then there are people like us who live in normalhouses with normal size rooms and normal size walls.We cannot accommodate enormous paintings, evenif we wanted them. But that means that we canoccasionally buy a small work that will really standout on our walls, and that Jacob Lawrence piece is aperfect example. We pass that work every day in ourhallway, and we almost always stop to admire it.–Susan S. and David R. GoodeInteresting Lawrence Fact:Jacob Lawrence’s The Builders (1947) was purchased by the White House HistoricalAssociation for $2.5 million in 2007. The painting has hung in the White HouseGreen Room since 2009.29 |
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