Jacob Lawrence: A Great Painter of African American Life 

Jacob Lawrence: A Great Painter of African American Life 

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was a great 20th century African American painter whose work focused on the experiences and everyday lives of African Americans. Although he described his style as “dynamic cubism,” his work had little in common with European cubism. Most of Lawrence’s paintings contrast bright, vivid colors with primarily brown and black human figures.

The Libraries

Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and he later moved with his parents to Easton, Pennsylvania. After his parents divorced, he lived for a time in Philadelphia before moving with his mother to New York City. His mother encouraged him to paint, and she enrolled him in an after-school arts program in Harlem. 

He continued to paint after leaving high school and received a scholarship to the American Artists School in New York. By the time he graduated, Lawrence was an accomplished painter. His best-known early work, the Migration Series, depicted the movement of blacks from the south to northern cities.

The Wedding

He served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II and spent the war years documenting (through his paintings) the experiences of service men and women. After the war, he settled in Harlem and taught courses on painting at several art institutes and colleges. 

Much of Lawrence’s work portrays aspects of everyday life among African Americans. For example, The Libraries Are Appreciated (1943) depicts three people quietly reading their books in a library. Another painting, The Wedding (1948), presents a couple standing before a stern looking minister and wild profusion of colorful flowers—a subject both solemn and joyous. The Brown Angel (1959) shows a group of people socializing and having a good time in a bar. 

 In 1972 Lawrence became a tenured professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, and he taught there until he retired in 1986. He continued to paint right up to the week of his death at the age of 82. 

The Brown Angel

Lawrence once described his art as “an effort to express the universal beauty of man’s continuous struggle to lift his social position.” By any measure, he was successful in creating beautiful works that appeal to people of all races. For this reason, Lawrence’s paintings can be found in the permanent collections of most of the major art museums in the United States, as well as in the White House.