Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance

Maria Bravo

Period 5

December 9th, 2015

Jacob Lawrence

The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to a period at the end of World War I through the mid-30s, in which a group of talented African-Americans managed to produce outstanding work through a cultural, social, and artistic explosion. Also known as the New Negro Movement. It is one of the greatest periods of cultural and intellectual development of a population historically repressed. The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of art in the African-American community mostly centering in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s. Jazz, literature, and painting emphasized significantly between the artistic creations of the main components of this impressive movement. It was in this time of great

immigration, both within and outside the United States, when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) found enough individuals interested in sharing their concerns. The outcome there were major cultural revolutions, whose consequences can still be appreciated every day.
During the Harlem Renaissance many outstanding painters emerged, but none like Jacob Armstead Lawrence. He was not just any painter, he was among the best known African-Americans in the 20th century. His work was rooted in US history, particularly in the struggle against slavery and racial oppression. Lawrence was known for his portrayal of African-American life. He was also known for being a “history painter”, but he preferred to be called an “expressionist”. His style was known as "Dynamic Cubism", although his primary influence was originated by the shapes and colors of Harlem, the city where he was raised.
Jacob Lawrence was born on September 7th, 1917, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

When he was thirteen years old, he moved to New York City with her mother and two younger siblings right after his parents separated. As a teenager, he took classes in the library in 135th Street, which nowadays is the famous Schomburg Center. One of his teachers, Charles Alston (muralist, sculptor, and painter), exerted great influence on him. Alston created an art school for young people called the Utopia Community Center, where an after-school art program took place; Lawrence was successfully admitted. When he was 16 years old he dropped out of school, but continued receiving classes at the Utopia Community Center. Alston insisted him to attend to the Harlem Community Art Center, conducted by the sculptor Augusta Savage. Savage arranged him a scholarship for the American Artists School and a paid position in the Works Progress Administration. Lawrence was able to study and work with notable artists of the Harlem Renaissance, like Charles Alston, and Henry Bannarn in the Alston-Bannarn

workshop.
In 1937, when Lawrence was 20 years old, he painted his first narrative series about the Haitian revolutionary named Toussaint L'Ouverture.

The 41 small tempera paintings dramatize the struggle of Haiti’s newly-obtained independence and the exploitation of farm workers. That artistic tribute to the freedom fighter, exposed in the paintings with vibrant colors, geometric shapes, and abstract patterns established the distinctive style that made him famous [Dynamic Cubism]. Lawrence also painted pictures about the typical colored people, and he presented them as heroes, full of dignity that was obtained in the struggle. Lawrence was married to painter Gwendolyn Knight on July 24, 1941. In October 1943 (during World War II), he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and served in the first racially integrated United States Coast Guard (USCGC) Sea Cloud team. While he was in the Coast Guard, he was able to paint and draw what was happening during World War II. Lawrence completed the set of sixty narrative paintings titled “Migration of the Black.” Those series were about the migration of thousands of African-Americans from the South to the North after World War I. It was exhibited in New York and brought him a national award. In the 1940s, Lawrence made his first major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and became the most famous African-American painter in the country. Lawrence taught at several schools, and continued painting until a few weeks before

his death in June 2000, at eighty-two years old. His last public work, the mosaic mural, New York in Transit (which was not recognized until after his death) was installed in October 2001 at the Times Square’ subway station (New York).
In his last years, Mr. Lawrence received numerous awards and positions, like the Spingarn Medal, granted by the NAACP for his outstanding achievements; he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member and became a full academician; the Whitney Museum of American Art at New York City held a major retrospective of his work; he was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters; he received the U.S. National Medal of Arts; he was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University awarded him the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence; and lastly, Washington State awarded him its highest honor, The Washington Medal of Merit.
In conclusion, Jacob Lawrence was an African-American painter that lived during the Harlem Renaissance. He was among the best known African-Americans in the 20th century. His work was rooted in US history, particularly in the struggle against slavery and racial abuse. Lawrence was known for his portrayal of African-American life. He was also known for being a “history painter”. However, he preferred the term “expressionist.” His style was known as “Dynamic Cubism”. Lawrence received numerous awards, among them were, The Washington Medal of Merit, and the U.S. National Medal of Arts. He died on June 9, 2000 when he was 82 years old in Seattle, Washington.