Jacob Lawrence: Painter, Artist, Educator

Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by Leshell Hatley in Scholarly Celebrations

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was considered to be “the most widely praised African-American artist of the 20th century.” As an African-American in the visual arts, his work had carried him to the pinnacle of success and fame.

Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1917. At the age of two, his parents moved the family to Easton, Pennsylvania. Hard times and lack of ample work caused his parents to separate. By 1927, Jacob, his brother William, and sister Geraldine were temporarily moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and were put up in foster care while his mom, Rose Lee Lawrence, looked for work in New York. Three years later, she went back to Philadelphia and brought the three children to live in Harlem, New York. Mrs. Lawrence’s greatest fear was that Jacob would be drawn into a street gang, therefore she enrolled him in an after school arts program in the basement of the 135th Street branch of the public library (now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture). Here, Jacob Lawrence came in contact with two notable African-American artists: James Lesene Wells, painter and program director and, later, Professor of Art at Howard University, and Charles Alston, muralist, sculptor, painter, and graduate of Columbia University. Alston later organized the UTOPIA NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER, and Jacob Lawrence joined the CENTER. Jacob experimented with many types of creative patterns in art, especially those depicting people and neighborhood scenes. High school was extremely frustrating for Jacob, therefore he stopped attending and immersed himself in art to alleviate his anxiety and frustration.

This video will lead to more amazing visual representations of Jacob Lawrence and his work.

At age 19, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and traveled to Middletown, New York. Upon learning that his early mentor, Charles Alston, was teaching a part of the government’s WPA program, Jacob returned to New York City. Again Jacob was fortunate to meet people with artistic talent and educational knowledge. Among them were Augusta Sage, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Alain Locke, Elton Fax, and Professor Charles Seifert, who taught African-American History at the 135th Street public library.

Professor Seifert’s lectures inspired Jacob Lawrence to focus more on the historical development and struggle of people from African descent. At this point in time, Jacob Lawrence decided to put his mind to work on stories and narratives in order to create expressive paintings depicting these historical happenings. Over the years, Jacob Lawrence did just that. He used his canvas as a vehicle for making statements on FREEDOM, DIGNITY, STRUGGLE, and DAILY LIFE among the African-American peoples. Jacob Lawrence was able to take complex issues and subjects and transpose these into expressive moods with bold, bright color scenes. Art critics have called him a “BLACK MODERNIST” because of his fusion of PRIMITIVE, EUROPEAN, and AFRICAN-AMERICAN vignette. Lawrence also utilized Expressionism, Cubism, and African Art designs in his paintings.

Jacob Lawrence defined his art as coming from his experiences and visual views of life encounters. His limited formal art training carried him through the HARLEM RENAISSANCE ERA, the 1960′s CIVIL RIGHTS ERA, and on to living through the 1990′s. Very little is published about his personal life. He did marry, in July 1941, to Gwendolyn Knight, a talented painter, and served in the U. S. COAST GUARD in 1943 where he did a series of paintings. Except for a short bout with a near nervous breakdown, requiring hospitalization, Jacob Lawrence kept on striving to do what he knew best – that is painting. Jacob Lawrence’s accolades were enormous. He was the first artist to win the NAACP’S SPINGARN MEDAL in 1970. He was awarded several fellowships, including the ROSENWALD and GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIPS. He was member of the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND LETTERS and has taught at PRATT INSTITUTE in New York City. He served as head of the Art Department at the University of Washington in Seattle and is presently PROFESSOR EMERITUS there. His works are probably known by more museums than any other African-American visual artist. Today, his works are among the collections found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of Art. He died on June 10, 2000.

His prolific works include some of the following:

• STREET ORATOR, 1936
• BAR N’ GRILL, 1937
• CLINIC, 1937
• MIGRATIONS OF THE NEGRO, a group of 60 gouache panels, 1937-1938
• TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE, 41 paintings in the series, 1938
• …AND THE MIGRANTS KEPT COMING, 60 panels in the Historical Migration Series of African-Americans from the South, 1940-1941
• JOHN BROWN’S BODY, 1941
• LIFE OF HARRIET TUBMAN, 40 panels, 1942
• NEGRO MIGRATION NORTHWARD IN WORLD WAR, 60 panels, 1942
• THIS IS HARLEM, 30 paintings in the Harlem Series, 1942-1943
• THE LIBRARIES ARE APPRECIATED, from the Harlem Series, 1943
• THE LOVERS, 1946
• IN THE GARDEN, 1950
• STRUGGLE: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 30 in the series covering all subjects dealing with American history, 1955-1956
• PARADE, 1960
• PRAYING MINISTERS, 1962
• DAYBREAK – A TIME TO REST, 1967
• MAN WITH SQUARE, from the Builders Series (1978-1980), 1978
• BUILDERS, original on gouache paper, (see exhibit), 1980
• HIROSHIMA, 1982
• BOY WITH KITE, 1983

More information can be found here:

1. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/lawrjaco/
2. http://www.jacobandgwenlawrence.org/
3. http://www.phillipscollection.org/migration_series/index.cfm
4. Slideshows of his work at MoMA

More Related posts:

1. Ruth Simmons: 1st Black President of an Ivy League School
2. Alain Locke: 1st Black Rhodes Scholar, Author, Full Philosophy Professor @ Howard
3. Zora Neale Hurston: Folklorist, Teacher, Anthropologist
4. Nell Irvin Painter: Author, Artist, Historian who recently released “The History of White People”
5. [ HBCU_Presidents ] Dwight O. W. Holmes: 1st Black President of Morgan State

Tags: ...AND THE MIGRANTS KEPT COMING, 135th Street branch of the public library, 14 year old sophmore, 1937-1938, 1960s Civil Rights Era, 1st Black President of Morgan State University, 2000 YMCA "Champion For Youth", 40th Anniversary, 60 panels in the Historical Migration Series of African-Americans from the South 1940-1941, African Art designs, African-Amercians, Alain Locke, AlliedSignal, AND DAILY LIFE, Art Department at the University of Washington in Seattle - Professor Emeritus, artists, At Georgia Tech, Augusta Sage, Back to School, Baltmore MD, BAR N' GRILL 1937, Black History, BLACK MODERNIST, Black Sexual Politics: African Americans Gender and the New Racism, Black student enrollment, Blues for Mister Charlie (play; 1964), BOY WITH KITE 1983, BUILDERS original on gouache paper 1980, Charles Alston, Claremont College, Claremont Gradue University, Claude McKay, CLINIC 1937, Columbia University, Countee Cullen, Cubism, DAYBREAK - A TIME TO REST 1967, DIGNITY, Dr. Charlie Nelms, Dr. Helen S. Faison Chair in Urban Education, Edgar Allen Poe, Expressionism, Federal Energy Administration, first artist to win NAACP Spingarn Medal in 1970, First Black Full Professor at Harvard University, FREEDOM, General Counsel of the Community Services Administration, Guggenheim Fellowship, Harlem Renaissance, Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program, HIROSHIMA 1982, Howard University, Hugo Black, IN THE GARDEN 1950, Jacob Lawrence, James Baldwin, James Lesene Wells, James Weldon Johnson, JOHN BROWN'S BODY 1941, John D. Rockefeller, Johnnetta Cole, Kawaida: A Communitarian African Philosophy, Learning Policy Center, LIFE OF HARRIET TUBMAN 40 panels 1942, Lifting Up What Works, MAN WITH SQUARE from the Builders Series (1978-1980) 1978, memoirs, MIGRATIONS OF THE NEGRO a group of 60 gouache panels, Morgan Academy HS, Mount Holyoke College, NAACP, National Institute of Arts and Letters, NEGRO MIGRATION NORTHWARD IN WORLD WAR 60 panels 1942, Non-Violent Action Group, North Carolina Dance Theatre Board, PARADE 1960, Peabody Award 2006, Pratt Institute, PRAYING MINISTERS 1962, Professor Charles Seifert, Provost, Richard Spikes, Rosenwald Fellowship, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Stephen Stafford II, STREET ORATOR 1936, STRUGGLE, STRUGGLE: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 30 in the series covering all subjects dealing with American history 1955-1956, The Catholic University of America, The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities, THE LIBRARIES ARE APPRECIATED from the Harlem Series 1943, THE LOVERS 1946, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics, the second oldest public institution of higher education in Texas, TheRoot.com, THIS IS HARLEM 30 paintings in the Harlem Series 1942-1943, Time magazine named her America’s best college president, TOUSSAINT L'OVERTURE 41 paintings in the series 1938, Tulane the Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, U.S.A. and in Senegal, underserved communities, University of Kentucky Museum of Art Board, University of North Carolina, University System of Maryland, UTOPIA NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER, vignette, Washington University in St. Louis