Jacob Lawrence Biography Paper Example

Introduction

Among the renowned paint artists that have ever existed, Jacob Lawrence is one of them. He was born on 7th September 1917 and died on 2nd June 2000 at the age of 82. Jacob was a famous African-American painter whose portrayals reflect African-American life. Besides painting, interpreting, and storytelling, he was also an educator. He brought the early African-American encounters to life by the use of browns and blacks juxtaposed with some vivid colours to enhance authenticity (Berkowitz, 2017). Lawrence often referred to his fashion of painting as "dynamic cubism" even though he accounted that his French was not his primary influence as the colours and shapes of Harlem. At the age of twenty-five, Lawrence gained public acknowledgement after completion of his sixty-panel series of migration which he crafted on a board (Dickinson, 2016). The painting portrayed the eminent movement of the African-American who were migrating from the agrarian south of the US to the urbanized north. The art was severally exhibited in the progeny of Fortune in 1914, and it is currently held at two museums; Philip Collection in Washington and MOMA in New York. Lawrence also taught and spent almost sixteen (16) years of teaching art in the capacity of a professor at Washington University (Berkowitz, 2017).

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Life

Lawrence's sunrise was on September 7, 1917, in Atlantic City, New Jersey in search of greener pastures, the African Americans moved out of the south after the First World War. The primary reason as to why Lawrence's parents moved from the south to north was in search of jobs and employment opportunities to feed their family. African Americans had to struggle to do a lot of work and earned meagre (Dickinson, 2016). Lawrence's family migrated from their rural south to the north while two years old. He has a difficult childhood as he was left with his mother in the year 1924 when his parents divorced. Lawrence and his other siblings were later put in foster care by their mother in urbanized Philadelphia until he was thirteen years when he was reunited with his mother in Harlem. Shortly Lawrence was introduced to art and craft classes at Utopia Children's Center as a way of keeping him occupied.

At the centre, Lawrence often drew patterns using different crayons. After a series of classes, Lawrence started mastering the art and perfectly drew the design of his mothers carpet (Dickinson, 2016). Lawrence's painting was so tantalizing in that it was enough to let his teacher smell the potential of art in him. At the age of sixteen years, Lawrence backed out of school. He was recruited in a laundromat where he doubled with the printing firm (Dickinson, 2016). Despite quoting school, Lawrence always practised his passionate skill in art and design. He nurtured his exceptional talent in the art at Harlem Art Workshop where he was polished up by the then African-American recognized artist, Charles Alston (Berkowitz, 2017).

Migration Series

After honing Lawrence's skill, Charles Alston encouraged him to join a different art centre still in Harlem, under the leadership of Augusta Savage (a sculptor). Upon joining his institution, Savage secured a scholarship for Lawrence at American Artists School where he had a paid status under the Works Progress Administration (Dickinson, 2016). The institution and the department where Lawrence was posted had been established during the era of the Great Depression under the rule of the then president, Franklin Roosevelt. Day by day Lawrence talent and skill of drawing were boned with more experienced art pioneers joining him to help him perfect his drawings (Berkowitz, 2017).

On 24th July 1941, Lawrence espoused a fellow paint artist, Gwendolyn Knight -who also was in the same institution. Knight was very inspired by Lawrence's art and offered to support him throughout his artwork. She always ensures the best captions for Lawrence's painting. The pair stayed by each other's side till death did them apart in 2000 (Dickinson, 2016).

Just two year after marriage Lawrence was drafted into the U.S Coast Guard (USCG) - during World War II in 1943. He worked as the first ever racially integrated member USCG Sea Cloud under the management of Carlton Skinner. While at the coast guard, Lawrence always created adequate time to sharpen his already noticed skill of painting further. He sketched and portrayed an artboard recording all the incidents that were happening during World War Two. It is notable that when World War II was ending, Lawrence had completed forty-eight (48) drawings (Berkowitz, 2017). Unfortunately, all the pictures have been lost, and no trace is evident. Upon returning from the war, Lawrence returned to New York and painted his celebrated War Series (Dickinson, 2016). The hardships of World War II and the brutal life experiences such as disappointments and frustrations while depicting almost boat his life.

Lawrence got depressed and was admitted at Hillside Hospital in Queens, USA. He was hospitalized for eleven months at Hillside. Lawrence never abandoned sketching and drawing, while in the hospital as an inpatient, he painted some of his pictures there (Berkowitz, 2017). The most evident difference between the drawings he sketched while in the hospital and the usual ones is that the majority of those he drew while on the hospital bed depicted agony and sadness. He used the sad drawings to record his bitter life experience while at the hospital where he was being attended to daily to ensure his steady recovery. Upon recovery, Lawrence returned to the theatre to improve his artwork.

After almost twenty years of staying in New York, Lawrence and the wife, Knight Gwendolyn relocated to the Pacific Northwest. The resettlement was after Lawrence had received an invitation to join the University of Washington as an art professor. The couple (Lawrence and Knight) decided to settle in Seattle. Lawrence's art is still alive at the University's Meany Hall for the Performing Arts which were commissioned by the University in 1985. Also, his art is in Paul G. Allen Institute of Computer Science and engineering (Dickinson, 2016).

Education and Career

Lawrence's academic adventure was full of art lessons; he undertook Works Progress Administration art and design lessons in New York City between 1934 and 1937. Upon leaving the institution, he joined the Harlem Art Workshop in 1937 for further skill imparting (Dickinson, 2016). Harlem was an established institution which furnished a significant number of African-American artists in the USA (Berkowitz, 2017). He was among the early crop of students to be fully nurtured by the institution. In his long artistic occupation, Lawrence focused more on the exploration of the general happenings and agony of African-Americans. His paintings often highlighted significant events which occurred to the African-American. At twenty-one (21), his painting of the famous Haitian commander, Toussaint L'Ouverture, who spearheaded America's slave revolution which later on gained independence was displayed in a unique exhibition of African-American paints at Baltimore Museum Art. The warm reception of the painting motivated Lawrence who followed other pictures of the lives of Fredrick Douglas, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman (Dickinson, 2016).

African-American Movement

At 23, Lawrence completed his 60-panel set of narrative decoration which was titled "Migration of the negro" (currently referee to as Migration Series). It is an exceptional representation of a hundred groups of African-Americans from their native south settlement to the developing North including his family just after World War I (WWI) (Dickinson, 2016). It is an art that brought him national glim and cognizance after severally being displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This was the art which earned him praise hence becoming the most celebrated African-American artist in the USA (Berkowitz, 2017). He was later on, in 1946, Lawrence was offered a job to tutor at Black Mountain College. His style of painting then changed to realism due to the influence he had received from Josef Albers. After settling in Washington, Lawrence completed five major arts depicting the westward travel of the African-American and former U.S president, George W. Bush. All five drawings are present in the Washington State History Museum (Berkowitz, 2017).

In 1977, Lawrence demonstrated Fable Aesop's adaptation for the Washington University. In his teaching career, Lawrence taught at several colleges and universities among the Washington University. According to him, painting has three significant elements that need to be displayed; strength, clarity, and universality. His final public work, music mural New York in Transit was inaugurated in 2001 (October) in New York City's Times Square Subway station.

Lawrence Jacob was not only limited to painting, but he also wrote numerous books such as "Harriet and the Promised land" which highlights the abolition work of influential figures incorporating multiple pictures (Dickinson, 2016).In his sunset years, Lawrence seemed to enjoy resurgence through his artistic practice. Lawrence was later on accepted as a Federal Arts Project (WPA member). Through his creative work, Lawrence often attributed his work to his tutors and mentors during his schooling days such as Augusta Savage (Berkowitz, 2017).

Recognition

As an outcome of Lawrence's critical role of the painting of social realism, he gained some special attention across the globe. He is considered to be the champion who broke the barrier of colour among Americans. In 1941, Lawrence became the foremost African-American painter to show in all classic collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His distinguished artistic achievements earned him the Spingarn Medal from NAACP in 1970 (Dickinson, 2016).In the following year (1971), Lawrence was named an Associate member of the National Academy of Design. In 1979, he completed the membership hence becoming a complete academician. In 1974, his contemplative work was reflected in the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Success and favour continued following him, and in 1983, he got an appointment to the renowned American Academy of Arts and Letters (AAAL). Lawrence exemplary paintings gained good acceptance within the United States and across the world. He was awarded the United States National Medal of Arts, one of the most adored medals in the industry of art in 1990 (Berkowitz, 2017). Lawrence was later appointed as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science and awarded the Algur H. Meadows Award due to his laudable work at the Meadows School of arts in 1995 and 1996 respectively (Berkowitz, 2017).

The year 1998 was Jacob Lawrence's prime year as he was awarded the Washington medal of excellence. This is considered the highest level of honour by the Washington State among all its medals ever awarded to influential people (Dickinson, 2016). Lawrence's paintwork has been permanently pinned in a variety of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, Reynolds House Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum, Museum of Brooklyn, National Gallery of Art, Whitehouse Historical Association, and Washington Museum among others (Berkowitz, 2017). Upon his death on 9th June 2000, various media houses and newspapers described him as a pioneer of the modern transformative art who has inspired many by his artwork. Throughout his painting life, Lawrence made three hundred and nineteen artworks (319) (Berkowitz, 2017).

Special Work of Art

Lawrence painted some of the most beautiful arts that will forever be revisited for future reference. Some of the outstanding works that he successfully painted and received national acceptance include Toussaint L'Ouverture series...