Jacob Lawrence Biography

Jacob Armstead Lawrence

Born: September 17, 1917
Died: June 9, 2000
Place of Birth: Atlantic City, New Jersey

Major Notes:

Jacob Lawrence can be considered one of America's true historical painters.
He was one of four children raised by a single parent mother who worked as a domestic.
The family moved from Atlantic City to Easton, Pennsylvania, when Lawrence was two years old.
Following a separation, his mother left the family in foster care and took employment in Harlem, New York.
Jacob Lawrence joined his mother in Harlem when he was 13 years old.
Lawrence received his first art training from Charles Alston at Utopia Children's House, a community day care center.
Alston gave Lawrence the idea of representing objects and ideas in his own inventive pictorial language.
It was while living and growing up in Harlem that Lawrence learned the meaning and consciousness of the black community.
Lawrence went to Art Museums to see and study the works of famous painters.
He studied the work of impressionists, abstraction, African works, and drawings in the Mexican and Egyptian traditions.
In his twenties, Jacob Lawrence developed art works depicting the social values of Harlem and black community life.
During the late thirties, he continued taking art lessons and studies with Augusta Savage and the American Art School.
Lawrence was now depicting the many views of his interpretation of Harlem and Harlem life.
He emphasized colors, shapes, lines, patterns, and movement in his paintings touching upon such topics as the crime, poverty, racial tensions, and police brutality.
At one point Lawrence sought help for depression and was referred to the Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York.
Over the years, his paintings depicted various stages of his personal life such as in Harlem, the navy, the hospital, and the civil rights movement.
Jacob Lawrence received many awards for his work including election to the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters and was presented with over two dozen honorary university degrees.

For detailed research and more information, check out any of the following: ArtFacts.net The ArtChive LandsVideo (.pdf file) PBS: Remembering Jacob Lawrence Whitney Museum of American Art

BACK HOME PAGE

Major Notes:

Jacob Lawrence can be considered one of America's true historical painters.

He was one of four children raised by a single parent mother who worked as a domestic.

The family moved from Atlantic City to Easton, Pennsylvania, when Lawrence was two years old.

Following a separation, his mother left the family in foster care and took employment in Harlem, New York.

Jacob Lawrence joined his mother in Harlem when he was 13 years old.

Lawrence received his first art training from Charles Alston at Utopia Children's House, a community day care center.

Alston gave Lawrence the idea of representing objects and ideas in his own inventive pictorial language.

It was while living and growing up in Harlem that Lawrence learned the meaning and consciousness of the black community.

Lawrence went to Art Museums to see and study the works of famous painters.

He studied the work of impressionists, abstraction, African works, and drawings in the Mexican and Egyptian traditions.

In his twenties, Jacob Lawrence developed art works depicting the social values of Harlem and black community life.

During the late thirties, he continued taking art lessons and studies with Augusta Savage and the American Art School.

Lawrence was now depicting the many views of his interpretation of Harlem and Harlem life.

He emphasized colors, shapes, lines, patterns, and movement in his paintings touching upon such topics as the crime, poverty, racial tensions, and police brutality.

At one point Lawrence sought help for depression and was referred to the Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York.

Over the years, his paintings depicted various stages of his personal life such as in Harlem, the navy, the hospital, and the civil rights movement.

Jacob Lawrence received many awards for his work including election to the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters and was presented with over two dozen honorary university degrees.