Black History Month VOCABULARY ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS. African American Artists

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Kelly Stokes
5 years ago
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1 VISUAL ARTISTS

2 VOCABULARY expressionism, narrative, collage, migration, Jim Crow laws, graffiti, antebellum, silhouette, racial identity, gender issues, elements of art, principles of art: balance, rhythm, pattern, proportion ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Why can we learn from focusing on the African American experience? What can we learn from African American artists? How is their experience similar and different from our own? Of the examples shown, which artist do you find the most interesting? Why?

3 WORKSHEET Jacob Lawrence Ideas: Vocabulary: o o o o o o Traditional Expressionistic Modern VOCABULARY expressionism, narrative, collage, migration, Jim Crow laws, graffiti, Antebellum, silhouette, racial identity, gender issues, elements of art, principles of art: balance, rhythm, pattern, proportion

4 Jacob Lawrence Romare Bearden Jean-Michel Basquiat Kara Walker

5 Jacob Lawrence One of the most important artists of the 20th century, was born in 1917 and is best known for his series of narrative paintings depicting important moments in African American history. Lawrence was introduced to art when in his early teens, Lawrence's mother enrolled him in Utopia Children's Center, which provided an after-school art program in Harlem. By the mid-1930s, he was regularly participating in art programs at the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Community Art Center where he was exposed to leading African American artists of the time.

Jacob Lawrence Online video On the Migration Series: I did plenty of research in books and pamphlets written during the migration, and afterward I took notes.

6 Jacob Lawrence Online video On the Migration Series: I did plenty of research in books and pamphlets written during the migration, and afterward I took notes. Sometimes I would make ten or twenty sketches for one incident By the time I started work on the (Migration Series), I was more conscious of what I wanted to do. I was looking consciously at things and for things. What elements and principles of art terms would you use to describe these works?

Romare Bearden Many artists and art historians consider Romare Bearden one of America's most important and inventive artists. But he's hardly a household name.

7 Romare Bearden Many artists and art historians consider Romare Bearden one of America's most important and inventive artists. But he's hardly a household name. Bearden is the subject of the National Gallery of Art s first major retrospective of an African-American artist. About 1914, his family joined the Great Migration of southern blacks to points north and west. In the early twentieth century, Jim Crow laws kept many blacks from voting and from equal access to jobs, education, health care, business, land, and more. Like many southern black families, the Bearden's settled in the Harlem section of New York City. Romare would call New York home for the rest of his life.

But unlike a puzzle, each piece of a Bearden collage has a meaning and history all its own.

8 Romare Bearden Online video Bearden's primary medium was the collage, fusing painting, magazine clippings, old paper and fabric, like a jigsaw puzzle in upheaval. But unlike a puzzle, each piece of a Bearden collage has a meaning and history all its own. Bearden said working with fragments of the past brought them into the now. What elements and principles of art terms would you use to describe these works?

Jean-Michel Basquiat Basquiat's career was incubated by the shortlived graffiti movement, which started on the streets and subway cars in New York City in the early 1970s, peaked, fell out of view,

9 Jean-Michel Basquiat Basquiat's career was incubated by the shortlived graffiti movement, which started on the streets and subway cars in New York City in the early 1970s, peaked, fell out of view, began all over again in the 1980s, peaked again, and finally receded, leaving Basquiat and Keith Haring as its only memorable exponents. Unlike Haring, however, Basquiat never tagged the subways The son of middle-class Brooklyn parents, he had a precocious success with his paintings from the start. The key was not that they were "primitive," but that they were so arty. Having no art training, he never tried to deal with the real world through drawing; he could only scribble and jot, rehearsing his own stereotypes, his pictorial nouns for "face" or "body" over and over again.

Jean-Michel Basquiat Online video Basquiat often incorporated words into his paintings.

10 Jean-Michel Basquiat Online video Basquiat often incorporated words into his paintings. Early he produced punk-inspired postcards for sale on the street, and become known for the political poetical graffiti. A major reference source used by Basquiat throughout his career was the book Gray's Anatomy, which his mother gave to him. It remained influential in his depictions of internal human anatomy, and in its mixture of image and text. Other major sources were Dreyfuss' Symbol Sourcebook, Leonardo Da Vinci s notebooks, and Brentjes African Rock Art. What elements and principles of art terms would you use to describe these works?

Kara Walker Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California. She received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994.

11 Kara Walker Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California. She received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in The artist is best known for exploring the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through her iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally proper Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery, creating a theatrical space in which her unruly cut-paper characters interact, often inflicting violence on one another.

Kara Walker Online video Walker's silhouette images work to bridge unfinished folklore in the

Because of her direct approach to the topic, Walker's artwork is reminiscent of Andy Warhol's Pop Art

Her nightmarish and fantastical images incorporate a cinematic feel.

12 Kara Walker Online video Walker's silhouette images work to bridge unfinished folklore in the Antebellum South, raising racial identity and gender issues for African American women. Because of her direct approach to the topic, Walker's artwork is reminiscent of Andy Warhol's Pop Art during the 1960s (she adored Warhol growing up as a child). Her nightmarish and fantastical images incorporate a cinematic feel. Walker uses images from historical textbooks to show how African American slaves were depicted during the Antebellum South. What elements and principles of art terms would you use to describe these works?

13 VOCABULARY narrative, collage, migration, Jim Crow laws, graffiti, Antebellum, silhouette, racial identity, gender issues, elements of art, principles of art: balance, rhythm, pattern, proportion ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Why can we learn from focusing on the African American experience? What can we learn from African American artists? How is their experience similar and different from our own? Of the examples shown, which artist do you find the most interesting? Why?

14 What words and ideas do you associate with each artist?

15 Jacob Lawrence Romare Bearden Jean-Michel Basquiat Kara Walker Why should we focus on the African American experience? What can we learn from African American artists? How is their experience similar and different from our own? Of the examples shown, which African American artist do you find the most interesting? Why?

16 Which African American artist do you find the most interesting? Why? Use some vocabulary terms when you write about your artist.

Image 1. Artist Kara Walker in front of one of her pieces at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., an art gallery in New York, in Photo by: Tina Fineberg/AP.

Artists: Kara Walker By The Art Story, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.29.18 Word Count 825 Level 820L Image 1. Artist Kara Walker in front of one of her pieces at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., an art gallery