Lesson Title: Visualizing City Life: Artists William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence

Transcription

1 Lesson 28 Museum Connection: Art and Intellect Lesson Title: Visualizing City Life: Artists William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence Purpose: In this lesson students will examine the artistic and social factors that dominated African American life in major northern cities during and following the Harlem Renaissance. They will view the works of Jacob Lawrence and William Johnson and identify the artists views of people and cities during this period. Using the techniques of Johnson and Lawrence, students will create a mural of modern city life in order to demonstrate their understanding of visual art as an expression of history and human experience. Grade Level and Content Area: Elementary, Fine Arts Time Frame: 5-8 class periods Visual Arts ELO: II.A.2 Inspired by selected artworks from different times and places, the student will create images and forms that express ideas about self, other people, places, and events. Visual Arts State Standards: 2.1.b (Grade 5) Select ideas, images, and forms to express personal meaning about life experiences in a visual composition 3.2.a (Grade 4) 3.2.a (Grade 5) 4.2.b (Grade 4) Describe sources for ideas and compare the processes used to create artworks Describe how artists use the elements of art and principles of design to organize visual compositions Interpret artworks to establish criteria for making judgments Reading and English Language Arts State Standards: 1.D.3.d (Grade 4) Use new vocabulary in speaking and writing to gain and extend content knowledge and clarify expression 1.D.2.b (Grade 5) Explain relationships between and among words Objectives: Students will identify the artistic and social characteristics of artwork created by William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence. Students will identify those elements of city life in the work of Johnson and Lawrence that are similar to those of today and those that are different. 29-1

2 Using the artistic styles of Johnson and Lawrence, students will produce a mural representing their own views of life in the city. Vocabulary and Concepts: Accessible art Works of art can be accessible in two ways. First they can be readily available for viewing in public places for little or no charge (e.g., in a park or in a museum). Or they can be easily read, meaning that the story or message can be quickly understood. Some of the artworks mentioned in this lesson may be accessible in both meanings, especially since the Internet has made seldom-seen art available to wider audiences than ever before. City life City life refers to the daily activities and interactions of people at work and play in the city and the structures and institutions that support them. Mural A mural is a large-scale painting. Materials For the teachers: Prints of artworks by William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence Art and Life of William H. Johnson: A Guide for Teachers, Smithsonian American Art Museum (available online at For the student: Cardstock, watercolor paper, or stiff paper on which to paint (9 x12 format recommended for this project) Small scissors for cutting out paintings Crayons and tempera paint Glue sticks and/or white glue Medium-size paint brushes Large piece of colored paper for mounting mural Resources: Dans, Peter E. Perry s Baltimore Adventure: A Bird s-eye View of Charm City. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, Driskell, David, David Levering Lewis and Deborah Willis Ryan. Harlem Renaissance: The Art of Black America. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Howard, Nancy Shroyer. Jacob Lawrence: American Scenes, American Struggles. Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press,

3 Lawrence, Jacob. Harriet and the Promised Land. New York: Simon & Schuster, Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. Los Angeles: Dragonfly Books, Schoener, Allon. ed. Harlem on Mv Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America New York: Random House, Siskind, Aaron. Harlem Photographs, Washington, DC: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Web site: Mural Arts Program http//: Teacher Background The Harlem Renaissance: The United States experienced a period of change and mobility during and after World War I. Dissatisfied with the severe limitations of Jim Crow laws and the poor, often isolated, living conditions in the Deep South, many African Americans moved to large northern cities hoping for better job opportunities and good schools. As their populations swelled, urban communities in New York, Detroit, and Chicago teemed with talented African Americans. Artists, musicians, writers, actors, and dancers came together and developed vibrant new art forms that derived from African heritage, the spiritual values and gospel music of churches, and the dominant European culture. This rebirth of arts and culture in the 1920s known at the time as the New Negro Movement was most pronounced in Harlem, New York, which pulsated with the excitement of achievement. The photographs of James VanDerZee document this excitement, as well as the glamorous lives of the period s entertainers in the city s ballrooms and theaters. Other migrants to the cities, however, did not find satisfying jobs or good living conditions. Churches moved uptown to Harlem in order to serve their needs, and cultural centers were established. At the same time many people involved in the Harlem Renaissance, as this movement is now known, also began to express their hopes for civil liberties and true equality; out of this environment came the NAACP and the modern civil rights movement. Artists too began to take a new look at the benefits and constraints of urban life and use their work in order to examine the society in which they lived. Artists such as Romare Bearden, William Johnson, and Jacob Lawrence created visual images of the harsher aspects of life in the city, while musicians like Bessie Smith used the blues to express the sorrows and trials of the period. Featuring real people contending with the realities of urban life, the paintings of William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence capture the emotions of those who migrated from the South to large industrial cities in the North. They both adopted a direct and simple style of painting so that their works resemble poster prints rather than the other types of 29-3

4 representational art of the period. As a result, their works which use vibrant colors to bring the city to life were accessible to a wider audience. Born in Florence, South Carolina, William Johnson moved to New York City in There he attended the National Academy of Design, where he prepared for his career as an artist by studying traditional painting techniques. Although Johnson left New York after only five years, for the rest of his career he infused his works with the energy and spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. After leaving New York, Johnson spent several years in North Africa and Europe before he settled in Paris. When he returned to South Carolina 14 years after he had first left, he began creating paintings that reflected the religion and customs of rural life. As his work progressed, Johnson s style, once representational, became flat and simplified in form. Yet his goal always remained the same: to tell the true story of the African and African American experience through art. Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jacob Lawrence lived for a short time in Easton, Pennsylvania, before he moved with his mother to New York City in During the 1930s, Lawrence studied art in Harlem, and soon he began creating his own painted visions of life in the city. The Migration of the Negro and Life in Harlem, for example, depict New York as seen through the eyes of African Americans recently arrived from the agricultural South. Later, Johnston illustrated Langston Hughes book of poetry, One-Way Ticket, and a children s book about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. He also spent some time in Nigeria and taught at colleges and universities in the United States until the end of his career. Characterized by vibrant and contrasting colors, bold geometric forms and patterns, and symbolic intensity, Johnson s works stress social and historical themes, as well as his belief that human beings had the ability to overcome any obstacle. Lesson Development: Day One 1. Motivation: Display prints of artwork by William Johnson and Jacob Lawrence that show life in city streets and in homes. Use as many prints as possible. Ask students what they see in the pictures: What are people doing? How are they dressed (fancy city clothes)? Where are they? Are they interacting? Discuss the way the bright colors and patterns in the pictures make the work lively and interesting. 2. A range of activities to assist students in conceptualizing a cityscape could include community investigation and documentation, field trips, visits to museum Web sites, and nature walks in the community. Take photos using a digital or Polaroid camera in order to document the unique aspects of the community. 3. Discuss the African American migration from farm to city in the 1920s and 1930s and the Harlem Renaissance that resulted from it. Throughout the discussion emphasize that: Both Lawrence and Johnson show viewpoints of the city held by African Americans who migrated from farm to city. 29-4

5 Coming to a strange new city after living in the country was not easy. People had to find ways to amuse themselves in town. We see a lot of color and crowded buildings in the artwork of Lawrence and Johnson. 4. Conclude this initial session with comments about how we may all take the same bus ride or the same trip in a car and see very different things, owing to selective observation. Ask students to observe the world around them on their trips to and from school and to remember what appears to be significant or important on a personal basis. Ask them to remember a street or building that is really busy and interesting to them. Day Two: 1. Begin with brainstorming the final design including specific portions of the mural. 2. Assign groups of three or four students to complete these portions, such as buildings, streets, sidewalks, cars, people, etc. Encourage students to include objects from their own personal observation and experience. 3. Revisit the artistic habits and creative processes used by Johnson and Lawrence as demonstrated in selected works and documented history. (Make a list of the objects required and which group will be responsible for rendering each object.) 4. Suggest that a composite picture of the city of Baltimore (or another city) might contain numerous buildings and elements of the harbor as well as the city streets. Just as Johnson and Lawrence depicted the city, library, parade, pool hall, and welldressed couples, this can be incorporated in a composite mural of the city with everyone contributing a favorite item. 5. Options for variation: Use books, prints and photographs of the city as you ask students to recall city sights and events. Tell them that Baltimore has long been known for its doorways, stone stoops, and row houses. Since the city is really a collection, put the prints and photographs together as a composite collection. Make a list of buildings, shops, theaters, museums, schools, office buildings, bridges, hotels, sports arenas, railway stations, and so forth that can exist in a city. Discuss the wide variety of people who live and work there (ethnicity, age, gender, occupation, etc.). 6. Start students working with paper and dark crayon to outline the figure of a person or the outline of a building. 7. Discuss the use of bright color and distribute fairly thick tempera paint so that students can color in their outlined figures. Use medium brushes. They will not be able to define features with fine lines and should achieve some of the flat poster-like quality of the original artworks. When most students are finished painting their work, 29-5

6 lay out a large piece of colored paper to provide a background for the mural. Draw a line to indicate the place from which the city will rise. 8. Explain to students that they will cut out their buildings and figures when they are dry and place them on the paper to make a mural. When the paintings are dry, distribute scissors for students to cut out their figures or buildings. Place the dry cutouts on the paper in order to begin making decisions concerning the mural. 9. Call the class together to decide whether other items are needed, such as vehicles, pets, street lamps, doorways, or more buildings or people. Assign students to produce the needed items. 10. When all of the paintings are finished, arrange them in a composition with all students assisting. Buildings may overlap and people may crowd together to indicate the bustling atmosphere of the city. Some painting may be needed on the mural itself. When the mural is arranged, it can be pasted down carefully and given a title determined by the group. 11. Assessment: Students look at their final product to determine whether it conveys the idea of a city with people living in it and whether they have used a style in producing the mural that reflects the work of Johnson and Lawrence. Are there flat geometric shapes? Are bright colors used? Are the people dressed like people in a city? Are they doing something? Does the title really suit the picture or could they suggest a better one? What does it tell us about the city it portrays? To aid viewers understanding, students will write a brief explanation of their mural and list the people, activity, and buildings that are included. They should also make reference to the artist(s) who inspired their work. 12. Closure: Discussion after completion of the mural should include: What did you learn about the artists? About life in Harlem? About life in Baltimore or other cities? How did this knowledge influence your work of art? Thoughtful Application: Examine visual portrayals of cities in the media (television, magazines, movies, etc.). How do those images shape our perceptions of city life? Lesson Extensions: Visit the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and for evidence of the Renaissance spirit in Baltimore. Who were some of Baltimore s musicians and performers who were among the period s greatest performers? Students may use the composite technique to put together several images in one painting. They may make a painting of the mural that they have created through group contributions as a follow-up activity. 29-6

7 Language Arts Read Tar Beach and Harriet Tubman and the Promised Land. Complete a Venn diagram comparing the content, genre, styles of artists, social message, etc., of the two books. 29-7