Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000, American) was an influential artist and educator who brought the African- American experience to life through a dynamic painting style defined by simplified forms, a limited color palette, and a narrative progression. Lawrence referred to his work as “dynamic cubism,” combining the influence of European and American Modernism with his lived experience in Harlem. His narratives include simplified backgrounds and figures with elongated limbs and torsos rendered in blacks and browns juxtaposed against vivid colors. At the age of twenty-three, Lawrence gained national recognition for his sixty-panel portrayal of the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural South to the urban North, inaugurating the ability of his art to be an instrument of social change.
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–American Playlist: Selections From The University At Albany Art Collections