Jacob Lawrence and the Avant-Garde

One of the best-known American artists of the 20th century, Jacob Lawrence had a career that spanned more than 50 years. Lawrence’s depictions of Black life memorialized some of the most significant events and figures of African American history, including the lives of revolutionary heroes Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, the Great Migration of the 1930s, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

However, the critical emphasis on narrative across Lawrence’s body of work has come at the expense of a consideration of the artist’s deep engagement with form. Art historian Jordana Moore Saggese examines the career of Lawrence in terms of his formal innovations, repositioning this work within the avant-garde. By focusing on the principles of space, color, and form, she highlights the ways in which Lawrence’s work pushes against a history of modernism that depends on the centrality of whiteness.

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit*

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*Enrolled participants in the World Art History Certificate Program receive 1/2 elective credit. Not yet enrolled? Learn about the program, its benefits, and how to register here.