Complete Jacob Lawrence [Hardcover]

Peter T. Nesbett (Author, Editor), Jacob Lawrence (Editor), Michelle Dubois (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0295979631 | ISBN-13: 978-0295979632 | Publication Date: October 2000 | Edition: First Edition

This two-volume set, including "Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence" and "Jacob Lawrence: Paintings, Drawings, and Murals (1935-1999), A Catalogue Raisonne", is the definitive publication on the work of artist Jacob Lawrence. The result of six years of research by the Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonne Project, led by Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois, the books identify, authenticate, and document over 900 paintings, drawings, and murals created by Jacob Lawrence between 1935 and 1999 - over half of them discovered by the project. "Over the Line" includes essays by eight distinguished art historians considering the ways in which Lawrence's art speaks so powerfully to different audiences and examining for the first time the breadth and depth of his output. Intimate in scale and bold in content, Lawrence's candid portrayals of life in Harlem during the Depression and his epic multi-panel series painted in the late 1930s and early 1940s are the cornerstones of his aesthetic production. His paintings, drawings, and murals depict both critical moments in history and poignant struggles of everyday life. The subject matter ranges from unforgiving portrayals of racial injustice to compassionate scenes of family life, from unnerving images of nuclear annihilation to visual celebrations of such heroic individuals as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. His use of the series format and his attention to pressing social issues accord him a unique position in the history of American modernism. Born in 1917, Jacob Lawrence spent his childhood in New York City, attending classes at the Harlem Community Art Center and the American Artists School, and later working for the Federal Art Project. While still in his twenties Lawrence exhibited his paintings at major museums across the country, including the Phillips Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he became the first African American artist to have work represented in the permanent collection. He lived, painted, and taught in New York City until 1971, when he joined the faculty of the University of Washington. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts. The contributors to "Over the Line" include Lizzetta LaFalle Collins; Patricia Hills, Boston University; Elizabeth Hutton-Turner, the Phillips Collection; Paul Karlstrom, West Coast Archives of American Art; Leslie King-Hammond, Maryland Institute; Richard Powell, Duke University; Lowery Stokes Sims, Studio Museum in Harlem; and Elizabeth Steele, the Phillips Collection.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Complete Jacob Lawrence, a large, two-volume set on the late African American artist who died in June 2000, is so thoughtfully conceived that in addition to admiration, a reader feels gratitude for it. Over the Line, a book of biographical and critical essays, and its companion, a catalogue raisonné, are exactly what Lawrence deserves. A successful artist both in and out of the mainstream throughout most of the 20th century, he was also handily pigeonholed. A social realist, a modernist, and a storyteller, he was described as "self-taught," "primitive," "jazz-age," "narrative," and, above all, "African American." But the eight richly detailed essays in Over the Line show his complex work--in which the threads of abstraction and narrative are tightly woven--in all its magnitude. The books possess unusual authority, as all of the writers knew Lawrence to some extent, and Lawrence's wife, the artist Gwendolyn Knight, was instrumental in the project's fruition.

When Lawrence was a professor of painting, a graduate teaching assistant complained to him that her students resisted her instructions. His response was, "Tell them they're absolutely right. And then tell them to do it your way." This confidence in the validity of different points of view allowed him to express everything he knew about the hardships of African American life while remaining open and interested in everything the world had to offer. His last great series, "The Builders," is a moving metaphor for harmony, showing carpenters of all skin shades working together with hammers, nails, saws, and other tools to construct--what? A better life? A better country? A better world? Lawrence's point was never so reductive. It was enough that they were working side by side. As a Washington Post critic once wrote, "An aura of affection, goodwill and respect, both given and received, shines around the man, and like armor around his art." --Peggy Moorman

From Booklist

This magnificent two-volume study of the dynamic and deeply humanitarian work of one of our greatest African American artists, illustrated with a wealth of jewellike color reproductions, enables readers to fully appreciate the radiant hues, boldly faceted compositions, and grand scope of Lawrence's virtuosic oeuvre for the first time. A catalogue raisonne presents more than 900 paintings, drawings, and murals, most never before published. The companion volume, Over the Line, contains eight insightful and lucent critical and biographical essays by such experts as Lowery Stokes Sims, director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the widely published art historians Leslie King-Hammond and Richard J. Powell. These groundbreaking interpretations illuminate Lawrence's formative years in Harlem during the 1930s and his lifelong mission to "picture an untold story," the African American experience, by celebrating iconic figures such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman as well as countless unnamed heroes and heroines who overcame prejudice and poverty. Lawrence's key themes, innovative techniques and styles, and mid-career shift from narrative images to more abstracted and jazzy creations are all deftly analyzed. Lawrence passed away as the books went to press, but he and his wife of 59 years, Gwendolyn Knight, were integrally involved in the project, so he knew that his life's work would be preserved, and indeed, this solid appreciation of Lawrence's vibrant, compassionate, and poetically improvisational work will stand as a support beam in the edifice of American art. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr; First Edition edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295979631
• ISBN-13: 978-0295979632
• Product Dimensions: 16 x 12.3 x 5.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,936,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book; what a great artist!!!, July 20, 2001

By 

L. Feld "lowkell" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (Paperback)

Jacob Lawrence, who died a year ago at age 82, was one of the great American artists of the 20th century -- or any century for that matter. I had the privilege recently of viewing "The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence" at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and was extremely impressed. If you can't make it to the Phillips Collection, this book is the next best thing, with more than 200 full color reproductions of Lawrence's work.

And what a powerful body of work it is, mainly -- but not only -- on the African-American experience. Themes include: slavery; escape via the Underground Railroad; heros and heroines like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman (plus Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture); black migration to the North; continued persecution (lynchings, Jim Crow) well into the 20th century; the Harlem Renaissance; and more. Lawrence's style is simple (but NOT simplistic!), urgent, and direct, using inexpensive materials (cheap store-bought poster paints on hardboard -- whatever Lawrence could afford), which give new meaning to the expression, "less is more!" You get the feeling in looking at these paintings that Lawrence HAD to paint, to bear witness, and to let the world know the situation of his people.

"Over the Line" is a valuable book for many reasons. For one thing, my understanding is that these paintings, sketches, etc. have never before been published in color, or at all, in any other books on Lawrence. "Over the Line" also give you information on Lawrence's life, which was very interesting in its own right. Finally, these painting are simply a joy to look at, over and over, which this book will allow you to do. I strongly recommend that you get a hold of it!

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete Jacob Lawrence, October 11, 2000

By 

William S. Stella (Mukilteo, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Jacob Lawrence (Hardcover)

Jacob Lawrence spent his fascinating, fruitful life building
an enormous contribution to the world of art and this two-volume
set captures nearly every aspect of it in an absolutely beautiful
fashion... owning this set is an honor. Open either volume ANYWHERE
and it becomes immediately clear that the authors and publisher have
done their work well. To have us understand at the outset that
the artist operated far beyond the scope of the ordinary and into a
full grasp of all sorts of levels of abstraction is quite an
accomplishment in and of itself. These books do it. To be able to see
all the known paintings, drawings and sketches is great. To also read
about the life of such a brilliant person, the background for his
works, his long and
"without-whom-it-wouldn't-have-been-possible"marriage to his
equally-talented and beautiful wife Gwen, along with the history of the
styles and media pushes the palette into the soul of the reader!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Eurocentrically Selective, June 16, 2007

By 

The Djeli (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (Paperback)

True, this is a large collection of Lawrence's work, however it is very incomplete. In the beginning of Lawrence's career, only 21 years old, he produced the Toussaint L'Ouverture Series. A 41 panel series dedicated to the struggle of enslaved Africans and their victory, which was never more blatantly successful than that of Haiti under the slave-born revolutionary known as Toussaint L'Ouverture. In 1938, when this series was completed it was so monumental for the Pan-African American experience, yet this book refuses to acknowledge it.

First, there is only one print, and one that is subtle and not graphic (such as black soldiers defeating whites which was a major theme of the series). It is an insult to the origin of Lawrence's genius and his legacy, especially in regards to pre-Civil Rights African America:which was his community, not the pseudo-intermingled America of today that is now trying to claim him as an "American" artist, taking away his true existence as an African American artist, not American, especially during an era when his people were so restricted from full citizenship.

Only purchase this book if you want a false story, one that ignores and criticizes (the author had the audacity to ridicule Lawrence for the Toussaint Series because the author claims Lawrence was not knowledgable about the Haitian revolution). Though I think Lawrence was aware, it is irrelevant. As a black man descended from slaves, the revolution was within him, he did not have to read about it. He felt it. The Haitian revolution belongs not to just Haiti, it is a symbol of the enslaved African's struggle against white oppression and the ability to be victorious at it. Even if that is all he knew, it is enough. He did not have to read about a struggle for equality, it was his very existence.