Leo Martínez
The Migration Series by Jacob Lawrence is a collection of 60 panels portraying the Great Migration, the movement of over a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North following World War I. Lawrence was inspired by his own experiences as a child of the Depression, as well as his research into the history of the migration and his encounters with southern migrants in the North. He aimed to tell a story of struggle, hope, and triumph, using a visual vocabulary that drew on modernism and comic books. Lawrence's ambitious series, completed when he was just 23 years old, is a powerful expression of the African-American experience and has earned him widespread recognition as one of the most important American artists of the 20th century.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of panels | 60 |
| Year of completion | 1940-41 |
| Age of artist at completion | 23 |
| Artist's family migration | Yes |
| Artist's inspiration | Comic books, Mexican muralism of the 1920s-1940s |
| Artist's research | Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History and Prints |
| Artist's previous work themes | Struggle, hope, triumph, adversity |
| Painting style | Synthetic cubism, modernism |
| Painting technique | Applied one colour to each panel simultaneously, starting with black |
| Narrative style | Visual vocabulary, sentence-long captions for each panel |
| Subject matter | Great Migration, migration of over a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North |
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The Great Migration
The migration had a significant impact on both the South and the North. In the South, black communities were uprooted as families left, often arriving at the station early in the morning to catch their trains north. They did not feel safe on the streets and were arrested on slight provocations. Their children were forced to work in the fields instead of going to school, and soon some communities were left almost empty.
In the North, migrants faced new freedoms and opportunities, such as better wages and educational opportunities. However, they also encountered new forms of discrimination and crowded living conditions, which led to health issues such as tuberculosis outbreaks.
Jacob Lawrence's "The Migration Series" captures this pivotal moment in American history. Completed in 1941 when Lawrence was just 23 years old, the series consists of 60 panels that depict the experiences of African Americans during the Great Migration. Lawrence researched the subject and drew inspiration from his own experiences among southern migrants in the North, as well as from comic books and Mexican muralism of the 1920s to 1940s. He worked on all the panels simultaneously, using a consistent palette of colours and a modernistic visual vocabulary to create a unified narrative. Each panel is accompanied by a descriptive caption, revised by the artist, that adds depth to the powerful images.
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Modernism
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series is considered a masterpiece of social realism and a unique examination of the artist's vivid images and inventive narrative technique. The series is also recognised for its modernist elements.
The Migration Series is comprised of sixty tempera paintings on 18 x 12" composite board. Each painting is accompanied by a descriptive caption, revised by Lawrence for the exhibition. The series is characterised by abstracted, expressive figures with mask-like faces, acting out causes and consequences in stage-like spaces. A consistent palette of blue-green, orange, yellow, and grey-brown ensures the visual integrity of the whole series.
Art historians Dr Steven Zucker and Dr Beth Harris note that Lawrence brings a "visual vocabulary that is clearly well-versed in modernism" to the subject of the Great Migration. They attribute this to the flatness of the forms and the reductiveness of the images. However, they also note that modernism typically dispenses with subject matter and narrative, whereas Lawrence's Migration Series weaves its subject matter into stark images.
The series is considered a radical reimagining of history painting for modern times, elevating the story of a marginalised group to the level of high art. The first half of the series illustrates the economic hardships and social injustices of the South, while the second half describes the life of migrants when they reached the North.
The Migration Series is, therefore, a powerful example of Lawrence's ability to combine modernist techniques with important subject matter, creating a body of work that captures the complexity of the Great Migration and its impact on people's lives.
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Personal experience
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series was inspired by his personal experiences and those of his family. Notably, Lawrence's family was among the millions of African Americans who migrated from the agricultural South to the industrial North in the early 20th century. This migration was precipitated by extreme racism, Jim Crow laws in the South, and the availability of jobs in the North due to a labour shortage.
Lawrence himself grew up in Harlem and was primarily schooled there. He began taking art classes at the 135th Street Branch Library, which housed the Schomburg Collection of Negro History, Literature, and Prints. In 1936, he won a scholarship to the American Artists School in New York, where he studied with artists such as Harry Gottlieb, Louis Lozowick, and Anton Refregier.
Although Lawrence had never visited the South before painting The Migration Series, he drew inspiration from his experiences among southern migrants in the North. He also conducted extensive research on the history of migration, including the use of resources like the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History, and Prints.
In 1941, Lawrence travelled to southeastern Virginia with his wife, painter Gwendolyn Knight. This trip provided him with first-hand insights into how the migration had impacted the lives of African Americans who travelled to the North.
Through his Migration Series, Lawrence aimed to tell a story that reflected on the shared history of migration and invited viewers to contemplate universal themes of struggle, movement, conflict, power, and beauty. He employed a unique artistic style, combining modernism with narrative subject matter, to create a powerful visual vocabulary that expressed the modern condition of industrialization and upheaval.
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Comic books
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series is a group of paintings that depict the migration of African Americans to the northern United States from the South, which began in the 1910s and continued through to the 1940s. The series is comprised of 60 panels, which are painted in a style that is reminiscent of comic books.
The paintings were completed between 1940 and 1941, when Lawrence was just 23 years old. He was inspired by comic books and Mexican muralism of the 1920s to 1940s, and his Migration Series showcases techniques from both. The series is considered to be Lawrence's most famous work and is notable for its use of modernist vocabulary and narrative structure.
The Migration Series is unique in its examination of the artist's vivid images and inventive narrative technique. The series is divided into two halves: the first illustrates the economic hardships and social injustices of the South, while the second describes the life of migrants once they reached the North. The impact of the series is similar to that of a comic book, with each panel containing sentence-long captions that explain aspects of the event.
The panels are painted in tempera on hardboard and are all the same size, measuring 12 x 18 inches. Lawrence worked on all of the paintings simultaneously, applying one colour at a time to ensure uniformity across the panels. The paintings feature a consistent palette of blue-green, orange, yellow, and grey-brown, with abstracted, expressive figures and mask-like faces.
The Migration Series tells a story that is deeply personal to Lawrence, as his family was among those who migrated from the South to the North. Through his art, Lawrence conveys metaphors of injustice, strife, change, hope, and beauty, reminding viewers of their shared history and inviting reflection on universal themes of struggle.
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Mexican muralism
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series was inspired by the artist's desire to portray the Great Migration, the movement of over six million African Americans from the rural, agricultural South to the industrial North following World War I. Lawrence aimed to tell a story of shared history, reflecting on universal themes of conflict, struggle, power, and beauty. He drew inspiration from his own experiences as a child of the Depression and his family's migration to the North, as well as research and interactions with southern migrants.
Now, here is some information on Mexican muralism:
The Mexican Muralism Movement was an influential era of modern art that emerged shortly after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). It was characterized by large-scale public art pieces with political, social, and historical messages. The movement was strongest from the 1920s to the 1950s, coinciding with Mexico's transformation from a predominantly rural and illiterate society to an industrialized one. The murals were often created on the external walls of buildings, making art accessible to the masses and serving as an educational tool.
The movement was founded by three key artists: José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, known as "The Big Three" or "The Three Greats." Their works were politically driven, addressing themes of socialism, national identity, cultural heritage, and social injustice. These artists experienced conflict due to their refusal to separate politics from their craft, with some of their art being destroyed or controversial.
During the post-revolutionary period, the Mexican government commissioned murals that depicted historical events and promoted national pride. This phase, known as the “heroic” phase, ended in 1930 with the resignation of José Vasconcelos, marking the transition to the “statist” phase. The privatization of mural production occurred during the rise of an ultraconservative Mexico, as the government distanced itself from mural projects. Despite these changes, the Mexican Muralism Movement had a lasting impact on public art and influenced muralism in Chicano communities.
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Frequently asked questions
The Migration Series is a group of paintings by Jacob Lawrence that depicts the migration of African Americans to the northern United States from the South, which began in the 1910s and continued through to the 1930s.
Jacob Lawrence was inspired by his own experiences as a child of the Depression and his family's migration story. He also drew inspiration from research, including the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History and Prints, and his own experiences among southern migrants in the North.
Lawrence used a variety of artistic techniques in the Migration Series, including a distinctive style derived from Synthetic Cubism, with abstracted, expressive figures with mask-like faces acting out causes and consequences in stage-like spaces. He also employed a consistent palette of blue-green, orange, yellow, and grey-brown to ensure visual integrity across the panels.
Lawrence conceived of the Migration Series as a single work rather than individual paintings. He worked on all 60 panels simultaneously, painting them colour by colour to ensure their overall visual unity. He also wrote descriptive captions to accompany each panel.
The Migration Series is significant because it is Jacob Lawrence's most famous piece and is considered a spectacular work of art. It uniquely examines the artist's vivid images and inventive narrative technique in the context of both the 1940s and the present. The series also holds historical value, documenting one of the most important events in American history and telling the story of the Great Migration in a way that is accessible and understandable.
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