Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Based on exhaustive research and interviews, this thoughtful and comprehensive biography makes a good case for recognizing Jacob Lawrence as among the finest American artists of the 20th century. . . . [Hills’] empathetic analyses will make this the definitive biography of Lawrence for a very long time.” * Artnews *
“The book is the most thorough analysis available of Lawrence’s work and a valuable contribution to American art history as well as African-American studies.” * The Artblog *
“Hills knows a great deal about her subjects - Lawrence and the Harlem in which he lived and worked for much of his life - and this will be an essential book for those who study these subjects.” * Art New England *
“Hills offers a beautifully illustrated, critical assessment . . . By paying close attention to Lawrence’s sophisticated imagery and situating his work within its rich cultural and political contexts, Hills provides a much-needed analytical discussion of his oeuvre and a thoughtful account of race in 20th-century American art and life. . . . Highly recommended.” * Choice *
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
PART ONE The Artist’s Place in Harlem
1 Harlem’s Artistic Community in the 1930s
2 Patrons and the Making of a Professional Artist
PART TWO Themes and Issues
3 African American Storytelling:
Toussaint L’Ouverture and Harriet Tubman
4 The Great Migration in Memory, Pictures,
and Text
5 Confrontations with the Jim Crow South
in the 1940s
6 Home in Harlem: Tenements and Streets
7 The Double Consciousness of Masks
and Masking
8 The Paintings of the Protest Years, 1955–70
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Jacob Armstead Lawrence
and His Family
Notes
Selected Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Index
