Who? Jacob Lawrence, American (1917-2000)
What? The Great Migration (tempera on board, 60 panels)
When? 1941
Where is it now? The Museum of Modern Art, New York and The
Philips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Why is this artist/artwork important? Jacob Lawrence was one of
the most famous African-American artists of the 20th century. With
his The Great Migration Series, Lawrence developed a narrative
style of painting, which he used to deliver a message about an
important period in African-American history.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-­‐2000) Information Sheet -­‐-­‐He was one of the first nationally known African-­‐American artists. -­‐-­‐Born in 1917. He lived through a time of great change for African-­‐
Americans. His parents were part of a wave of migration of millions of African-­‐Americans from the Southern United States to the North that took place between 1910 and 1930. Prior to that time, 90% of all African-­‐Americans lived in the South. -­‐-­‐African-­‐Americans moved to the North to get away from the abuse and widespread discrimination that still took place in the South. -­‐-­‐They moved to the cities in North, where there were lots of jobs (factories and industry). There was still discrimination in the North, but they had more opportunities than in the South. -­‐-­‐When Lawrence was 13, his family moved to Harlem in New York City. There were 35,000 African-­‐Americans in Harlem during the 1930s, and it had the greatest concentration of African-­‐American artists, writers, scholars and musicians in the world. -­‐-­‐There was a lot going on—the art and culture that flourished there at this time is known as The Harlem Renaissance The Lawrence’s didn’t have much money, but Jacob’s mom didn’t want him hanging around on the streets, so she took him to an afterschool art program, where he learned to paint and draw -­‐-­‐His teachers recognized that he was talented and encouraged him. He also went to special lectures, where he learned about the accomplishments of important black people (Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass, Toussaint L’Overture). -­‐-­‐Lawrence realized that there wasn’t a lot of art that showed Black History—the struggles, heroes, and everyday lives. He made that the main subject of his art. When he was 24 years old, he began an ambitious project: The Great Migration (1940-­‐1941) It is a series of 60 paintings showing the movement of African-­‐Americans from the South to the North, the struggles they faced along the way, and what life was like in the North during the 1920s and 30s Materials: Tempera on hardwood panels (Tempera is inexpensive was what he used when he was learning to paint). -­‐-­‐Each painting is small (12x 18”) and also contains writing, descriptive captions, to help convey a message. The series was meant be shown all together to tell a story. -­‐-­‐Worked in an usual way: Laid out the paintings on the floor and worked on them simultaneously. He painted them color by color—
for example, he painted all the reds on the different paintings, then the blues, the yellows (He didn’t do the paintings one by one). -­‐-­‐He also painted really fast—almost like an assembly line—and finished the series in a year. -­‐-­‐Why might he have painted in this way? What is the result?—Gives a sense of continuity—can follow the colors, also repeated shapes. Result—almost like a comic book, you see and read the story frame by frame (or like a story board for a movie). -­‐-­‐Style: simplified shapes, which he repeated in the different paintings, bright colors (usually primary colors), not a lot of detail. Why? He wanted his images to stand out. Like a poster—attract the viewer’s attention. Other artists at this time were working in similar styles, so his paintings still looked up-­‐to-­‐date and attracted a lot of attention. -­‐-­‐He meant for it to be displayed all together, so people would get to see the whole story. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, The Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.) divided the series in half (even numbered in NY, odd number in Washington, D.C.). Artist’s quotes: “I work out of my experience, and if somebody wants to call that black art, that’s all right.” "I've always been interested in history, but they never taught Negro history in the public schools...I don't see how a history of the United States can be written honestly without including the Negro. I didn't [paint] just as a historical thing, but because I believe these things tie up with the Negro today. We don't have a physical slavery, but an economic slavery. If these people, who were so much worse off than the people today, could conquer their slavery, we can certainly do the same thing.... I am not a politician. I'm an artist, just trying to do my part to bring this thing about..." Discussion questions about the quotes: -­‐-­‐Discuss the artist’s quote mentioned above. Why do you think
Lawrence said that? What is he trying to say in this statement? For more information: Books: John Duggleby, Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence. Chronicle Books, 1998. Internet Sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lawrence http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/lawrence.html https://whitney.org/.../jacoblawrence/
This MOMA site shows the entire series with captions and commentary: www.moma.org
Images:
Panel 1: Text by Lawrence “During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes.”
-­‐-­‐Painting shows crowd of migrants about travel to three big cities in the North -­‐-­‐shows migrants without facial features Using a limited number
of colors -­‐-­‐clothing, hats, and luggage are simplified shapes, which repeat Why did he do this? How does this make you feel? -­‐-­‐conveys a sense of collective action, crowds acting as one, rushing movement Panel 18
Lawrence’s Text, “The migration gained in momentum.” Panel 58 Lawrence’s Text, “In the North the Negro had better educational facilities.” Panel 59 Lawrence’s Text, “In the North the Negro had freedom to vote. Lawrence Project Idea: Create “Painted Stories” using the ideas discussed with Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series Materials: Heavy Stock White or Cream Paper Markers Activity: Using a similar style and palette of color as Lawrence used, students create a picture with markers featuring three to five simple human images. They should create geometric shapes and pay attention to the repeated use of both shapes and colors to create a powerful composition. The design should cover the whole paper and attention should be paid to background shapes and colors as well as the main subject matter. Have the students write a short caption that relates, but doesn’t just describe the scene they have depicted. Some suggested topics are: •
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-­‐ on the block -­‐ at the library -­‐ playing a sport -­‐ on the soccer field -­‐ in the art room -­‐ at the market -­‐ reading -­‐-­‐going to school -­‐ at the park