Winifred Omogiade
Art 103 PQR
Writing Assignment 1
02.05.2022
Analysis Of Jacob Lawrence’s, “The Wedding”
African American art has played a pivotal role in preserving the African view and culture. The 20th Century art movement dubbed the Harlem Resistance focused on the creation of Art from a black perspective. Harlem district from where the Harlem resistance originated became the cultural capital of the Black community in the United States. It is in Harlem that Jacob Lawrence, the painter of “The Wedding”, was brought up.
Jacob Lawrence was born on 7th September 1917 in Atlantic City of New Jersey in the United States (Berkowitz 303). He seems to have been born right at the period in which the Harlem Resistance that he would be part of was getting ground. He spent his early childhood in foster care together with his two sisters i.e., William Hale and Geraldine Lawrence before being relocated to Harlem to stay with their mother. While in Harlem he attended classes at the Utopia children’s school where he showed a talent in making lively decorative masks, something that would come to strongly influence the nature of his paintings (Berkowitz 303). He later joined the Harlem Art Workshop under sponsorship. In the art workshop, Lawrence worked under Charles H. Alston introduced him to other people in the Harlem Resistance such as Augusta Savage and Langston Hughes (Wilson 17).
After developing association with figures in the Harlem Resistance, Lawrence’s early work that was originally just abstract figures and flat colors shifted towards tempera paintings. Even though the tempera paintings were done on small scale, they were very important in the preservation of black history. In the 1930s, while still inspired by ideas of the Harlem Resistance, he made a series of paintings on key figures in Black history. These were a series of paintings on Toussaint L’ouvertures, Fredrick Douglas, and Harriet Tubman, both great figures in black history. Toussaint L’Ouverture was the leader of the blacks’ independence drive in Haiti (Hoermann 647). The painting of such a historical figure shows how much the painter, though American, valued the liberation of Blacks all over the world.
His job was not limited to painting only, he once served as a coast guard and at one point ventured into academics teaching at the Black Mountain College. Later in his life, he would join civil rights movements advocating for equitable treatment of the black and other communities that made up the minority. It was during this period i.e the 60s that he traveled to Nigeria and painted scenes of the local life. Other significant events in his life are his marriage to Gwendolyn Wright in 1941 and the painting of ‘The Wedding”.Jacob Lawrence died on 9th June 2000 in Seattle, Washington leaving behind great works of art that inspire people and help to conserve the black culture
The Wedding (1948) by Jacob Lawrence |Egg tempera on hardboard| 78.7 x 88.9 cm
“The Wedding” is one of the famous paintings by Lawrence. As he said,” he painted things that he experienced”, the wedding must therefore have been something that he had experienced or may even have been a participant in. “The wedding” was painted in 1948 on a panel of 51 width and 61cm length” (Dickinson 2016). It features a stern-faced religious leader most likely a preacher administering marriage vows to a couple with two attendants standing on both sides of the couple while facing the religious leader. The background of the painting is brightly colored which can be taken to symbolize the prosperity that the marriage is expected to have. However, the preacher’s face looks rather serious. The depictions in the painting, just like in other paintings, are symbolic and seek to pass a message to society.
Each depiction in the painting has a unique interpretation. Generally, the painting is brightly colored save for the preacher’s stern face. This shows that the wedding and the marriage between the two couples would be a success. It also symbolizes a happy moment. Weddings are happy moments in all societies. A series of concave and convex lines are also used to create the contours of the people and the vases in the painting. This creates moderate tension and highlights the seriousness that the event holds. The two figures, (the couple’s wedding), appear rigid with the preacher looking directly at them in a stern manner. While the preacher obviously realizes that this is a happy moment, he still also notes and seems to emphasize that it is equally a very serious matter. Solemnity and joy are therefore depicted in the wedding simultaneously through the use of symmetrical rigidity and the use of a background that is associated with ancient Christian painting and architecture. Incorporation of a modern perspective in the art and the use of Christianity creates the sense that the painting is not about race, instead, the painting is about the ceremonies that human beings do or go through in their daily life. The painting is about a stage of life.
“The Wedding”, just like other paintings by Jacob Lawrence uses flat color shapes in order to create rhythm and a pattern. These two are often used to create the impression of traveling, motion, or a change in life. His color scheme is also limited since he utilizes very few colors. Concave and convex lines are also utilized to create asymmetrical rigidity. Through this painting, Lawrence Jacob infused concepts of the Harlem Resistance movement, cubism, modern art, and some aspects of social realism
Summarily, Lawrence Jacob was among the great African American painters of the mid-1990s. He is famed for paintings such as; The Wedding, Pool Parlor, and The Library. His paintings were mostly on his experiences and observations.” The Wedding” was painted in 1948 and this painting, he attempts to use color in the simplest form. Primary colors and line patterns are used to highlight the seriousness of the event. Jacob, just as he always did, used this painting to share his experiences and observations with the rest of the world.
Work Cited
Berkowitz, Elizabeth. “With all Good Intentions: Jacob Lawrence at the Museum of Modern Art.” Culture, Theory and Critique 58.3 (2017): 294-305.
Dickinson, Stephanie E. Jacob Lawrence: Painter. Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC, 2016.
Hoermann, Raphael. “Making ‘The Black Jacobins’: C. L. R. James and the Drama of History. By Rachel Douglas.” French Studies, vol. 74, no. 4, 2020, pp. 647–48. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/knaa158.
Wilson, Kristina. “Add Bates, the 306 Studio, and Interlocking Modernisms in Mid-Twentieth-Century Harlem.” American Art 35.1 (2021): 16-23.
