GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Growing up in Harlem during its fabled Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence came of age surrounded by the cultural richness of this vibrant African American community. In addition to his series on Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Lawrence worked on individual paintings that together form a loose confederation of scenes chronicling his life in Harlem. These works resonate with a power that is enhanced by the artist's manipulation of perspective and daring juxtaposition of colors. In The Visitors, a minister confers a final blessing on a bedridden person while family and friends assemble to pay their respects and offer consolation. The angular walls convey the anxiety of the gathered family; the vivid purple next to olive green sets up an uneasy vibration of color, adding to the poignancy of the moment.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 284.
- Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Jacob Lawrence, The Visitors," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 261.
NOTES
Created in 1959
Object File Reviewed
Piction checked
See DMA bulletin Summer 1987, pp 10-11
"jacob lawrence, American Painter" (Juen 28- September 6, 1987)
12055687: UMO
Debra Gibney, “Highlights of the American Collection,” in Dallas Museum of Art, 100 Years , ed. Dorothy M. Kosinski (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2003), Pamphlet number 48.
1984.174 Lawrence, The Visitors
Jacob Lawrence specialized in scenes that narrated the life of African Americans in Harlem. This scene, intimate in both scale and subject matter, conveys the emotional tension of a family suffering through the illness of one of its members.
-----------
Gail Davitt, biographical essays, education files, 1986-1987.
The Visitors, 1959, tempera on gessoed panel, 20" X 24"
This work tells us about the experience of grief in an ordinary American family; visitors have come to express support and condolences at the death of a family member. The presence of the baby and the ambiguous ancestral-masklike forms in the still life at the center of the painting create a sense of renewal and continuity. Lawrence effectively uses the formal developments of the twentieth century to create a threatened disorder which never quite takes place.
Growing up in Harlem during its fabled Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence came of age surrounded by the cultural richness of this vibrant African-American community. He generally worked in matte gouache or tempera paint, blending the playful geometries of cubism with the look of collage. Here we see a family entertaining visitors in the living room of a small apartment, while others go about their business in the adjacent rooms. Facades of nearby apartment buildings, glimpsed through windows, allude to the setting for this quiet moment and suggest the role of this informal sociability in sustaining the community. Excerpt from Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 284.
"The human subject is the most important thing. My work is abstract in the sense of having been designed and composed, but it is not abstract in the sense of having no human content. . . . [I] want to communicate. I want the idea to stick right away."-Jacob Lawrence
Family members have come to call on a severely ill relative. Each visitor expresses concern or grief in a different way as a preacher offers a final blessing in the far bedroom. Jacob Lawrence uses views through doorways and windows to enrich the narrative. Many of his works are about the lives of ordinary Americans and are often based on his keen observations of daily life in the tenements of Harlem, where he came of age. Lawrence was the first black artist represented by a New York gallery and one of the greatest African-American talents of the 20th century.
Excerpt from Wiliam Keyse Rudolph, The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art, November 2005
Culturally rich, if economically impoverished, Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s was the intellectual and artistic nexus of the Harlem Renaissance, within whose vital community Jacob Lawrence came of age. His keen observations of daily life in the tenements provided the foundation for his mature vision. Lawrence's talent was noted by the painter Charles Alston, who became his first mentor, and Augusta Savage, a sculptor who championed local artists. She provided encouragement, instruction, and whenever possible, job opportunities. With her help Lawrence spent part of 1938 painting under the auspices of the federal Work Projects Administration. This crucially important experience provided not only a steady income and patronage, but gave Lawrence time to concentrate on learning his craft.
Drawing on his avid interest in history, especially that of black Americans, Lawrence worked in series of images when the subject could not be encompassed in a single painting. This impulse to create large-scale, sequential stories has been attributed to the legacy of storytelling cycles central to his upbringing. In addition to his best-known series on Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Lawrence worked on individual paintings that together form a loose confederation of scenes chronicling his life in Harlem. These works resonate with a power that is enhanced by the artist's manipulation of perspective and daring juxtaposition of colors. In "The Visitors" a minister confers last rites to a bedridden person, while family and friends assemble to pay their respects and offer consolation. The angular walls convey the anxiety of the gathered family; the vivid purple next to olive green sets up an uneasy vibration of color, adding to the poignancy of the moment. Excerpt from Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Jacob Lawrence, The Visitors," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 261.
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: New York (New York/United States): TGN: 7007567
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
n.d.: Downtown Gallery, New York
n.d.: Sotheby's Auction
n.d.: William Zierler, New York
n.d.: Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York
n.d.: Keith Baker, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
n.d.: Terry DIntenfass Gallery, New York
From 1984: Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund
AUDIO ASSETS
UMO: 13313476 Jacob Lawrence and the Urban Edge
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Jacob Lawrence, Biography~Learn more about the artist from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art~Watch this video from LACMA about Jacob Lawrence and his work.
- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture~Read about the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s which had a profound impact on the work of Jacob Lawrence.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- At 24 years old, Jacob Lawrence was the first African American artist to be represented by a major gallery in New York.
TEACHING IDEAS
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Apply to objects where number equals 1984.174
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General Description
Growing up in Harlem during its fabled Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence came of age surrounded by the cultural richness of this vibrant African American community. In addition to his series on Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Lawrence worked on individual paintings that together form a loose confederation of scenes chronicling his life in Harlem. These works resonate with a power that is enhanced by the artist's manipulation of perspective and daring juxtaposition of colors. In The Visitors, a minister confers a final blessing on a bedridden person while family and friends assemble to pay their respects and offer consolation. The angular walls convey the anxiety of the gathered family; the vivid purple next to olive green sets up an uneasy vibration of color, adding to the poignancy of the moment.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 284.
- Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Jacob Lawrence, The Visitors," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 261.
Fun Facts
- At 24 years old, Jacob Lawrence was the first African American artist to be represented by a major gallery in New York.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Jacob Lawrence, Biography~Learn more about the artist from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art~Watch this video from LACMA about Jacob Lawrence and his work.
- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture~Read about the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s which had a profound impact on the work of Jacob Lawrence.
Notes
Created in 1959
Object File Reviewed
Piction checked
See DMA bulletin Summer 1987, pp 10-11
"jacob lawrence, American Painter" (Juen 28- September 6, 1987)
12055687: UMO
Debra Gibney, “Highlights of the American Collection,” in Dallas Museum of Art, 100 Years , ed. Dorothy M. Kosinski (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2003), Pamphlet number 48.
1984.174 Lawrence, The Visitors
Jacob Lawrence specialized in scenes that narrated the life of African Americans in Harlem. This scene, intimate in both scale and subject matter, conveys the emotional tension of a family suffering through the illness of one of its members.
-----------
Gail Davitt, biographical essays, education files, 1986-1987.
The Visitors, 1959, tempera on gessoed panel, 20" X 24"
This work tells us about the experience of grief in an ordinary American family; visitors have come to express support and condolences at the death of a family member. The presence of the baby and the ambiguous ancestral-masklike forms in the still life at the center of the painting create a sense of renewal and continuity. Lawrence effectively uses the formal developments of the twentieth century to create a threatened disorder which never quite takes place.
Growing up in Harlem during its fabled Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence came of age surrounded by the cultural richness of this vibrant African-American community. He generally worked in matte gouache or tempera paint, blending the playful geometries of cubism with the look of collage. Here we see a family entertaining visitors in the living room of a small apartment, while others go about their business in the adjacent rooms. Facades of nearby apartment buildings, glimpsed through windows, allude to the setting for this quiet moment and suggest the role of this informal sociability in sustaining the community. Excerpt from Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 284.
"The human subject is the most important thing. My work is abstract in the sense of having been designed and composed, but it is not abstract in the sense of having no human content. . . . [I] want to communicate. I want the idea to stick right away."-Jacob Lawrence
Family members have come to call on a severely ill relative. Each visitor expresses concern or grief in a different way as a preacher offers a final blessing in the far bedroom. Jacob Lawrence uses views through doorways and windows to enrich the narrative. Many of his works are about the lives of ordinary Americans and are often based on his keen observations of daily life in the tenements of Harlem, where he came of age. Lawrence was the first black artist represented by a New York gallery and one of the greatest African-American talents of the 20th century.
Excerpt from Wiliam Keyse Rudolph, The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art, November 2005
Culturally rich, if economically impoverished, Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s was the intellectual and artistic nexus of the Harlem Renaissance, within whose vital community Jacob Lawrence came of age. His keen observations of daily life in the tenements provided the foundation for his mature vision. Lawrence's talent was noted by the painter Charles Alston, who became his first mentor, and Augusta Savage, a sculptor who championed local artists. She provided encouragement, instruction, and whenever possible, job opportunities. With her help Lawrence spent part of 1938 painting under the auspices of the federal Work Projects Administration. This crucially important experience provided not only a steady income and patronage, but gave Lawrence time to concentrate on learning his craft.
Drawing on his avid interest in history, especially that of black Americans, Lawrence worked in series of images when the subject could not be encompassed in a single painting. This impulse to create large-scale, sequential stories has been attributed to the legacy of storytelling cycles central to his upbringing. In addition to his best-known series on Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Lawrence worked on individual paintings that together form a loose confederation of scenes chronicling his life in Harlem. These works resonate with a power that is enhanced by the artist's manipulation of perspective and daring juxtaposition of colors. In "The Visitors" a minister confers last rites to a bedridden person, while family and friends assemble to pay their respects and offer consolation. The angular walls convey the anxiety of the gathered family; the vivid purple next to olive green sets up an uneasy vibration of color, adding to the poignancy of the moment. Excerpt from Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Jacob Lawrence, The Visitors," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 261.
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: New York (New York/United States): TGN: 7007567
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
n.d.: Downtown Gallery, New York
n.d.: Sotheby's Auction
n.d.: William Zierler, New York
n.d.: Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York
n.d.: Keith Baker, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
n.d.: Terry DIntenfass Gallery, New York
From 1984: Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund
AUDIO ASSETS
UMO: 13313476 Jacob Lawrence and the Urban Edge
VIDEO ASSETS
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