The Gallery of Light @ Beth Or presents A deep dive into the works of Jacob Lawrence by Cathi Rivera.
Inspired by the exhibition at the Lowe Art Museum @ the University of Miami.
2. Many images and information were graciously provided to me by Jodi Sypher and
the Department of Education at the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami
as part of my docent training.
Some images were taken from the web and are not meant to be duplicated but
intended for educational use only. I encourage you to visit the Lowe Art Museum at
www.lowe.miami.edu
to become a member today.
Power point by Cathi Rivera
cathirivera9@gmail.com
3. “History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence”
Is organized by SCAD Museum of Art
in collaboration with the
Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation
And is curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, SCAD head curator of exhibitions
This exhibition will be on view at the Lowe through December 2020
To view the mobile exhibition: go to www.lowe.miami.edu, click digital
Engagement, click History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence
https://www.lowe.miami.edu/learn-engage/digital-engagement/index.html
4. Who Was Jacob Lawrence?
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1917. His family had moved
north from the rural South to find a better life. After his parents
separated, Lawrence and his two younger siblings lived in
settlement houses and foster homes in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, until 1930, when they joined their mother in New
York City. Lawrence was 13 years old. His education in art was
both informal — observing the activity and rhythms of the streets
of Harlem — and formal, in after-school community workshops at
Utopia House and the Harlem Art Workshop. He became
immersed in the cultural activity and fervor of the artists and
writers who led the Harlem Renaissance.
5. The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem
neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early
20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that
resulted. It spread to other large cities. Lasting roughly from the
1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age
in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage
performance and art.
What was the Harlem Renaissance
By Public Domain - http://www.blackpast.org/perspectives/passing-passing-peculiarly-american-racial-tradition-approaches-irrelevance, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61998651
6. Who was part of the Harlem Renaissance?
Romare Bearden, Paul Robeson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Gordon
Parks, Eubie Blake, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Duke
Ellington, Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Dizzy Gillespie
Just to name a few….
Zora Neal Hurston
Romare Bearden
Josephine Baker
Langston Hughes
7. Lawrence painted
works based on
memories of
performances at the
Apollo Theater in
Harlem. He also began
teaching again, first at
Pratt Institute and later
the New School for
Social Research and the
Art Students League.
1940-41, Casein tempera on hardboard, 12 x 18 in. The
Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1942
8. The Beginning of Jacob Lawrence’s Career…..
At age 21, Lawrence created a series of paintings about Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former
Haitian slave who became a general and led a revolution to gain independence from Spain
and France in 1801. “General Toussaint L'Ouverture”, tempera 1938
10. This series was exhibited widely and received critical
acclaim for it’s powerful, abstract, and visual
representation of diverse culture and the fight for
peace, independence and liberty. Lawrence presents
the actions of war and the victory of battle along
with the personal anguish of human loss.
11. In 1938, Lawrence created a series
of 40 tempera paintings of “The Life
of Frederick Douglass”, in 1939 he
created 40 tempera paintings of
Harriet Tubman, and in 1941 he
made 22 panels of the “Legend of
John Brown”
12. 'The Migration Series'
In 1937 Lawrence was awarded a scholarship to the American Artists
School in New York. When he graduated in 1939, he received funding
from the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. He had
already developed his own style of modernism, and began creating
narrative series, painting 30 or more paintings on one subject. He
completed his best-known series, The Migration Series, in 1941. The
series was exhibited at Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery in 1942,
making Lawrence the first African-American to join the gallery.
13. What was the WPA?The Works Progress
Administration (WPA;
(renamed the Work
Projects Administration
in 1939) was an American
New Deal Agency,
employing millions of job-
seekers to carry out public
works projects,
including the construction
of public buildings and
roads.
Created by President
Franklin Roosevelt to
relieve the economic
hardship of the Great
Depression, this national
works program
employed more than 8.5
million people on 1.4
million public projects
before it was disbanded
in 1943.
14. Lawrence married Gwendolyn Knight, a prolific
sculptor and painter, in 1941. She supported his
art, providing both assistance and criticism, and
helped him compose captions for many of his
series. They were married for 59 years. She died
in 2005. They had no children.
15. Like other Artists, Jacob Lawrence Created Multiple Series of Artworks
that were inspired by life around him:
Harlem Series, 1942 - 30 panels
War Series, 1946-47 - 14 panels
The South Series, 1947- 10 panels
The American People Series, 1953-55 - 30 panels
The Builder Series, 1971 – more graphic style created after appointment
to teach at University of Washington in Seattle
Eight Studies for the Book of Genesis, 1989-90
16. After being drafted into the military and serving in World War II,
Lawrence received a Guggenheim Fellowship and painted his War
Series. He was also invited by Josef Albers to teach the summer
session at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Albers
reportedly hired a private train car to transport Lawrence and his
wife to the college so they wouldn’t be forced to transfer to the
“colored” car when the train crossed the Mason-Dixon Line.
When he returned to New York, Lawrence continued honing his
craft but began struggling with depression. In 1949 he admitted
himself into Hillside Hospital in Queens, staying for close to a year.
As a patient at the facility, he produced artwork that reflected his
emotional state, incorporating subdued colors and melancholy
figures in his paintings, which was a sharp contrast to his other
works.
18. “Two Rebels”
1963, lithograph,
from an original painting
done the same year
During the Civil
Rights Movement in
the 1960’s Lawrence
was inspired to
create this work.
19. Poster for Olympic Games
1971, silkscreen
In Celebration of
African Americans
Competing in the
1972 Olympics,
Lawrence created this
poster.
20. “ The 1920’s….
The Migrants Arrive
and Cast their Ballots”
1974, Silkscreen
In the 1970’s,
Lawrence began
exploring
serigraph/silkscreen
techniques to express
himself.
22. 1989-1990
“Studies for
the book of
Genesis”
Lawrence was baptized and attended
The Abyssinian Baptist Church [in
Harlem] He said that religion never
left him and influenced much of his
work.
24. “Strategy” from the Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture series, 1994, Silk-screen print on
Domestic Etching paper, through hand-cut film stencil, 14” x 20”.
25. Lawrence emphasizes community, migration, and the important leadership of Harriet Tubman who led the Underground
Railroad, bringing slaves from the South to freedom in the North. She is shown on the right of the composition in red
clothing. Her outstretched hand gathers the African American slaves while her other hand points toward the north star—
symbolic of the group’s destination of the North
26. Lawrence explored the
relationship dynamics that
exist within labor structures
through the workers
depicted in his prints.
Although labor can be used
as an oppressive tool for
those in power, the laborers
represented in Lawrence’s
work are not victims; they
are presented as noble
figures that are very much a
part of their community.
“Stained Glass Windows”
2000, silkscreen
27. Jacob Lawrence collected tools.
You could find hundreds of them displayed in his studio.
He said: “I was about 15 or 16 – I was exposed to cabinet makers.
I wasn’t a cabinet maker myself - I remember them working with
tools. I now collect tools. I am not a collector, but I collect them. I
can’t drive a straight nail but I use them in my paintings as a
painter would a still-life”
30. “The Ant and Grasshopper”
1997, woodblock
Lawrence explored
another printmaking
technique,
woodblock.
31. He painted
murals for
the Harold
Washington
Center in
Chicago, the
University of
Washington
and Howard
University, as
well as a 72-
foot mural for
New York
City’s Times
Square
subway
station. “New York in Transit” 2001 mosaic put up posthumously based
on a painting by Lawrence.
33. Jacob Lawrence served as a
professor of art at the University of
Washington for 15 years. He
retired in 1986. In addition to
teaching, he spent much of the rest
of his life painting commissions,
producing limited-edition prints to
help fund nonprofits like the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the
Children’s Defense Fund and the
Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture.
Lawrence was still drawing
and painting when he died in
Seattle on June 9, 2000 at the
age of 83.
“ In The Studio” 1996, lithograph
34. Jacob Lawrence was the most
renowned African-American artist
of his time. He illustrated the
African-American experience
using vivid colors set against black
and brown figures. His narrative
expressionistic and sometimes
cubist style of art documented
the story of life and history from
his personal experience. Through
his storytelling, we can learn a lot.
35. Here are a few Artist Techniques that Jacob Lawrence used:
Tempera
Gouache
Serigraphy/ Silkscreen
Lithography
Wood Block
36. What is tempera / gouache?
Tempera is an ancient pigment. It was used in ancient Egypt,
Babylonia, Greece and China. During the Renaissance in Italy in
the 1500’s, tempera was mixed with egg yolk , other glutinous
materials and colored pigments to make a water soluble,
permanent, fast-drying painting medium. Although tempera is
no longer mixed with egg yolk, it is a widely used inexpensive
painting material.
Gouache , invented 600 years ago, is a water soluble opaque
watercolor consistently used by commercial artists for posters,
illustrations, comics and other designs. It can be re-wet and
dries with a matte finish.
Both painting mediums dry quickly and can be washed with
water.
37. What is Silkscreen/ Serigraphy?
A printing technique that uses a series of stencils ( one for each color) attached to a frame
stretched with silk to apply ink (with a rubber tool called a squeegee)
to a surface in an overlapping sequence, in order to create a finished piece of art.
38. What is a woodcut?
It’s a printmaking technique made from carving an image into a block of wood,
inking it and printing it.
39. What is a Lithograph?
A printing technique where a drawing is made on a flat stone surface with
oil based pencils, then the stone is inked with water based ink and printed.
40. ARTALK TUESDAY WORKSHOP
WEDNESDAY
4.21 Contemporary & Modern
Art
4.01 Andy Goldsworthy -
Mandalas &
Stone Stacking
5.05 Hispanic Art 4.15 Paper Weaving
5.19 Vincent van Gogh 4.29 Teesha Moore - Whimsical
Collage
6.02 Visual Art & Judaism 5.13 Georgia O’Keeffe – Flower
Photography
6.23 Jacob Lawrence @ the
Lowe
5.27 Betty Edwards - Portraits
6.17 Printmaking with Found
Objects
6.24 Matisse – Collage
presents
