Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories

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Casein tempera on hardboard, The Migration of the Negro, Panel 50, 1940-1941
Annotation

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was an artistic storyteller whose drawings document the African American experience. This site complements an exhibition entitled "Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence," and offers educational resources on Jacob Lawrence's work. The site includes images of Lawrence's paintings, learning plans, and art activities. It highlights the themes in Jacob Lawrence's work, such as the universal quest for freedom, social justice, and human dignity, as well as his repetitious and rhythmic approach to visual storytelling. This site brings together paintings and drawings of the streets of Harlem, southern African American life, and black heroes and heroines. There is additional information about one of the most characteristic features of Lawrence's work, his storytelling panels. Visitors can view 12 drawings from one of his most acclaimed works "The Migration Series."

The site is rounded out with a selection of unique student activities. Designed for 3rd through 12th grades, 21 lessons are based on 12 themes found in Lawrence's work such as discrimination, migration, labor, and working women. Students and teachers will enjoy this unique and well-organized site.

Paintings and Prints
artists
Jacob Lawrence
painters
painting
Images
Text
African American History Month
Learn AAH Month
Postwar US, 1945-Early 1970s
Contemporary US, 1968-Present
African Americans
Art
Cities & Suburbs
Gender
Ideas & Ideologies
Immigration
Labor
Mid-Atlantic
Southern States
Women
The Peabody Sisters: Igniting American Romanticism Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

Writer Megan Marshall describes the lives of the Peabody sisters—Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia—three women who contributed to the Transcendental movement of the 1800s. Elizabeth worked as an educator; Sophia, eventual wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote, painted, and illustrated; and Mary also worked for reform. All had connections with major intellectual figures of this period.

This lecture's audio is available in mp3 format.

Hudson River School of American Landscape Painting

Description

Art historian and curator David Dearinger traces the birth and development of the Hudson River School of American landscape painting, beginning in 1820, using key examples of paintings; gives an overview of the movement's historiography; discusses contemporary critical responses to it; and comments on the waning and eventual demise of the style in the 1870s. His presentation includes slides.

Familiar Faces: Gilbert Stuart's George and Martha Washington

Description

National Portrait Gallery curator Ellen Miles looks at painter Gilbert Stuart's 1796 portraits of George and Martha Washington, covering their creation by Stuart, Stuart's relationship with the presidential couple, and the impact and reception of the portraits since their creation. The presentation includes slides.

Audio and video options are available.

Tool Chest

Description

Cultural resources manager of the Anacostia Museum Portia James displays and discusses a tool box painted in 1891, depicting a plantation owner and his family riding down into Hell and their slaves ascending to Heaven.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Portia James." From there, select one of the Windows Media viewing options.

Analyzing Composition in Paintings

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s site provides a nice straightforward explanation of how to analyze the composition of historical paintings. Using Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware, the site explains how artists use various elements of composition like lighting to convey particular messages about the events depicted in paintings. For lesson plans on how to interpret historical paintings check out this site.

Website
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Explore and Learn

Brushes with History: Painting Materials, Methods and Artists, 1700-1850

Description

Scholarship on American art of the 18th and 19th centuries has proliferated dramatically in the last decade and yet very little has been written on the materials, methods, and settings of painting. This one-day event will delve into some of the workshops, studios, schoolrooms, and parlors where New Englanders of all kinds used a wide variety of materials, such as pencil and pigments on canvas, silk, glass, wood, and tin to create painted images and decorations for themselves, for sale, and for public display. Participants will learn about the daily lives of New England's diverse artists and artisans and the painted objects—from studio art to school girl art and painted decorative arts—that they produced and distributed between 1700 and 1850.

Contact email
lane@historic-deerfield.org
Sponsoring Organization
Historic Deerfield
Phone number
413-775-7209
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Duration
Nine hours
Website
http://www.historic-deerfield.net/events/brushes-history-painting-materials-met…
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