Tuesday, June 6 bonus: Jacob Lawrence Migration seriers

Jacob Lawrence's "The Migration Series"

Migration Series

Broad in scope and dramatic in exposition, this depiction of 

African-Americans moving North to find jobs, better housing,

 and freedom from oppression was a subject he associated

 with his parents, who had themselves migrated from South 

Carolina to Virginia, and finally, to New York.

Lawrence began to research the subject at the

 135th Street Library.

 After many months of reading and taking

 notes, he made sketches or the 

series. Gwendolyn Knight, a painter who was 

to become his wife, helped him identify 

memorable scenes and assisted in gessoing the

 panels and writing the inscriptions. 

Enthralled by fourteenth- and fifteenth-

century Italian paintings he had seen at the 

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lawrence used 

their medium—tempera—with a craftsman's

 mastery. To keep the colors consistent, he 

placed the panels side by side and painted 

each hue onto all the panels before going on

 to the next color. Perhaps it was this 

approach that resulted in a sense of 

collective unity, even though each panel can

 stand on its own.

Searing in their immediacy, the works show

 only essential imagery. Flattened, angular

 forms, strong diagonals, and contrasts of

 light and shadow contribute to the dynamism 

of the images. Although Lawrence used a 

limited palette, he arranged the colors to 

form focal points to direct the viewer's 

attention. Some pictures are self-contained; 

others are more expansive. As the narrative 

unfolds, from image to image, the vantage 

point, compositions, and details change—in a 

manner reminiscent of a film. In some panels,

 figures dominate; in others, the setting 

propels the story. The people are not 

individualized; rather, they represent 

collective characteristics. However, Lawrence

 never lost sight of the human drama. In all

 of his work, the human content is paramount.
Assignment: quickwrite

   On a separate sheet of paper, beginning with an MLA 

heading, respond to the following in a well-written paragraph.

How are the narrative images of Lawrence's "The Migration 

Series" reflective of the African American experience the early 

20th century?