Jacob Lawrence
African American Artist
Biography
Jacob Lawrence was born on September 7, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. As a child he took many art classes. As he got even older he took classes from more skilled artists like Charles Alston and Augusta Savage. His art teachers told him he had the potential to become an artist. He went on to marry another artist named Gwendolyn Knight. Later he was drafted into the Coast Guard during WWII. He died on June 8, 2000
Paintings
Jacob Lawrence's painting are very unique. The art style he uses is called dynamic cubism. Dynamic cubism is very unusual because the objects and the people are made mostly out of straight lines. Jacob Lawrence paintings also depict the history and struggle of African Americans. Like this painting to the right, it is called Migration of the Negro, it shows African American history when a lot of African Americans migrated to the North. The significance about Migration of the Negro is that he was nationally recognized for it. This is only one of his paintings from the whole Migration of the negro series of paintings. The original Migration of the Negro is many scenes painted on cardboard. Jacob Lawrence was significant to American culture because almost everybody liked his paintings. He became the most celebrated African American artist in the 1940s. He won the Washington style medal of merit for his paintings. New York Times called him one of America's leading modern figurative painters. At age 24 he became the first African American artist to be represented by a New York gallery.
Corey Barksdale
Corey Barksdale is a modern African American artist. He was born in Nashville Tennessee and later moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He went to the Atlanta College of Art in 1994. Corey Barksdale's paintings portray the strength and love of the African American community. He has been in many different art shows and art festivals such as the Atlanta fine arts festival and the jazz themed art show in Atlanta. He usually only attends art festivals in Atlanta, where he lives. Corey Barksdale is inspired by African American culture and music.
Corey Barksdale's paintings
Jacob Lawrence's paintings
Corey Barksdale and Jacob Lawrence
Corey Barksdale and Jacob Lawrence are both African American painters. They both paint mainly African Americans, accept Jacob Lawrence portrays the history and struggle of African Americans and Corey Barksdale portrays the strength and love of the African American community. Jacob Lawrence was nationally recognized for his paintings and won a medal for them. Although Corey Barksdale was not nationally recognized, he has been in many different art shows and art festivals such as the Atlanta fine arts festival and the jazz themed art show in Atlanta. Corey Barksdale was recognized for his paintings at the festivals.