Finding Inspiration in Literature

135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library

Researchers in the Division of Negro History, Literature and Prints

1930s

Photograph

General Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations 

Jacob Lawrence was not simply an artist; he was also a researcher. Lawrence spent significant time studying art, literature, visual arts, music, history—all of which inspired his artwork. Lawrence was known to frequent the Schomburg Center, a branch of the New York City Public Libraries. This photograph captures Black researchers at the Schomburg Center, pouring over literature and prints, much like Lawrence would have done in his own research. In this lesson, students make connections about the possible works that may have influenced Lawrence’s artwork.

Jacob Lawrence painting The Migration Series, Panel no. 55

1940-41

Photograph

National Archives, Harmon Foundation Collection

Jacob Lawrence captured the history and every day lives of Black Americans. In this particular photograph, we get a glimpse of Lawrence in action, painting Panel no. 55 of The Migration Series. He captures the history of the Great Migration, particularly how life in the North was not as perfect as the migrants had hoped it would be. In many cases, migrants moved into crowded and unhealthy living spaces, which increased the risk of contracting deadly diseases such as tuberculosis, and many people died. Lawrence did not want to paint a romanticized history of the Great Migration, but a real and more complex account of the experience. The substantial research he conducted and the literature he read led to the historical accounting in his art and inspired the story told in his Migration Series. In this lesson, students look more closely at some of the scholarship that may have influenced Lawrence and follow a similar process to create their own art.

Kenneth F. Space

Jacob Lawrence making block prints at a WPA Federal Art Project Workshop

National Archives, Harmon Foundation, 200[S]-HNE-18-15

As a teenager, Jacob Lawrence attended after-school arts programs in  Harlem. Through these workshops, Lawrence gained access to teachers such as Sarah West, the director of the WPA Federal Art Project Workshop, and his first mentor, Charles Alston, a painter, sculptor, graphic artists, illustrator, and educator. In this photograph, Lawrence is making block prints with the support of West. Artists, such as West and Alston, inspired Lawrence. Additionally, writers such as Langston Hughes were a powerful inspiration for Lawrence. In this lesson, students look specifically at how different texts may have inspired Lawrence, but walk away with a broader understanding of how art can be inspired through experience.