Jacob Lawrence Essay

1.0 BackgroundJacob Lawrence, one of the to the highest degree important impostureificeists of the 20th century and best kn knowledge for his serial publication of narrative blushing mushroomings depicting important moment in African the Statesn history was born on 7th September 1917 in Atlantic City (pbs.org, para. 1). He spent a portion of his childhood animateness in Pennsylvania after which his parents separated in 1924. Jacob and his siblings went with the m an some other(prenominal) to sensitive York and settled in Harlem. He was introduced to art at his teen maturate when his mother enrolled him in Utopia Childrens center which provided an after school art program in Harlem. By 1930s he could participate in the art programs at the Harlem artifice Workshop and the Harlem community art centre, where he got a chance to meet leading American artificers of the condemnation such as Augusta Savage and Charles Alton, the director of Harlem bring aboutshop at the measure and who by and by became a professor of art at Howard University (pbs.org, para.1).Having trained as a painter at the Harlem acidulateshop inside the New York domain Librarys 113 5th street branch, and despite being untold younger than most of the operatives and other writers who took part in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Lawrence was a force to recon with (Hughes, para.2). He was not interested in the type of idealised and fake primitives of blacks otherwise referred to as the Noble Negroes in art Deco guise, as they were usually produced as an antidote to the stereotypical racists. He gained confidence particularly from Alain Locke, who was a Harvard trained artist and as tumefy as the first black Rhodes prentice in America. Locke strongly believed in the reports of work done by blacks, as it could speak explicitly to African-Americans time still embodying value as comfortably as self critical powers of modernism. Precisely, Locke believed that, There is in tr uly not bad(p) art in no essential conflict between racial or national traits and universal human values (Hughes, para. 2).2.0 The work of Jacob LawrenceLawrence became healthful cognise at the age of 21 years when he did his Toussant LOuverture Series, a 41 painting collection that depicted a successful rebellion by the Haitian slaves. Three years later at the age of 24, his work became the first from an African American to be included in the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art (Lawrence, para. 1). Lawrence therefore considered himself to be both an artist and an educator. He used his art to tell stories ab protrude the black American history as he felt that this was being everywherelooked in the teaching of history in America. For instance, Lawrence did a forty panel series which he called The Life of Harriet Tubman who in the 1800s had helped many slaves in the north to free through an Underground coerce (Sernett, pp. 218).From his childhood, Lawrence h ad been steeped in stories about movement and migration and therefore with encouragement from Locke, he worked stiff to get historical background and related facts right. Months of research in the Schomburg aggregation of the Public Library which is the chief archive of African American breeding and history in New York, saw the realization of his other piece of work, Migration Series which could help trace the mass influx of African Americas from the southeasterly to the North as a result of World War I. The ii series are known for use of detailed titles and creative images to fix narrative history of events (Lawrence, para. 2).Additionally, the series are notable for lack of run-in use. The author was in no way a propagandist. He so furthermost advocated for front social realism which was at its peak in America at the time as evidenced by labor camps, prisons, abandoned villages, city slums and race riots which were mainly his subject matter. Lawrence attri barelyed his su ccess to his black palpate which was his heritage, more so as far as black Americans try to secure independence and justice was concerned. Even during adult hood, he blanket(a) this theme to include all human struggles for liberty, and although each of his paintings evidenced his nose out of humor as well as human pain and misery, they offered look forward to for the human condition.In 1937, Lawrence secured a two-year scholarship to the American artist school, where he studied with the Wilson, Philip Riesman and Eugene Moreley before marrying one of the pupil of Savage who was also a west Indian painter, Gwendolyn Knight in 1941.This scholarship took him out of Harlem but he still maintained a close communicate with the community which was the focus of his work as evidenced by his work Street Scene Restaurant, Street orator, home(a) and Interior scenes which were shown in 1938. Other notable work that was done by Lawrence were a 32 painting series, The Frederic Douglass and the 22 panel series that he multi-colored while on honeymoon in 1941.In the explosive 1960s, Lawrence painted what most critics have called his work of Protest in favor of elegant rights struggle in the South. In one of his paintings, The ordeal of Alice, he showed a black girl dressed in white trying to get into a newly desegregated school in the South but blamed tormentors attack her with arrows in a scene that is common barely with ghostly martyrs. In the late 1960s though, Lawrence progressed from portraying racial injustice into show racial harmony. At this time he did his series, Builders, which showed both whites and blacks working unneurotic in building projects, scenes which could be interpreted to mean rebuilding the society. contempt the changing trends, both political and in artistic field, Lawrence remained true to his own original and creative path until his death in June 9, 2000 (Sernett, pp. 82).3.0 His work compared with othersA comparison between the work of art done by Jacob Lawrence and that of other artists of his time reveals a lot of difference, with most these differences given over to Lawrences outstanding. date most of the artists, especially those doing watercolor paintings like him, are usually inclined to beauty and elegance, Lawrence was different. Even the most recent artists such as uncertainnessing Thomas Deir, despite making the highest sale of $ 10,000 in the Waikiki gallery, do not reckon to belong to the same school of thought with Jacob Lawrence (hawaiiart.com).The work of Lawrence, despite bring out beauty, also carries some real life meanings as far as human life is concerned. The Toussant LOuverture Series, for example is a series that is not only elegant but also carries success. word picture a successful rebellion by slaves, especially at the time when slave trade and slavery accompanied with a lot of other human misery was rampant, the painting can be said to stand more than Thomas Diers Mokulua Milky Way valued at over $2000 as far as human values and relevancy is concerned (hawaiiart.com). Other renowned artists such Judy Abott or Michelle Amatrula, though recognized for making huge sales from their pieces of work, do not address coeval issues like Lawrence does.The other artist who could in away compares to Jacob Lawrence is Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) who is particularly known for his Luminists landscape particularly of the storms and marshes in South America as well as still life paintings. Martin Johnson Heade (originally Heed) was equally a talented artist of the nineteenth century. He is remembered for his flora, fauna and landscape paintings that do not only have a rich effect of color and light but could also portray some poetic sentiments. Lawrence however still appears to exceed Heade in what can be drawn from a critical synopsis of their work. Put in simple terms, while the work from both artists make out beauty, Lawrence has some educative aspect injected into his work.By all definitions, Lawrence was better than most of the other artists of the time as evidenced by the numerous awards and conviction that goes to his name. In 1974, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a major retrospective of the work done by Lawrence which later resulted to his election to the American Academy of humanistic discipline and Letters in 1983, while in 1977, he received an invitation to paint during the inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In May 2007, the White House historic Association bought Lawrences Builders shown below for $2.5 million at auction. This painting immediately hangs in the white House Green Room (Crehan, para.5).4.0 ConclusionJacob Lawrence is plausibly one of the best artists that ever appeared on the face of earth. His work reveals a rare talent that he recognized and exploited fully. Despite being a black American, he beat all odds to survive one of the best artists of the 21st century while the plight of partner black Americans remained a dear concern to his heart. This is what his work addressed.Jacob Lawrence is no doubt a legend whose life deserves recognition by and over generations while his artistic work will continue to demand respect over centuries.