Virtual Art Tour

Jacob Lawrence, American, born 1917

The Swearing In

When describing "The Swearing In," Jacob Lawrence explained, "Because President Carter said he wanted this event to be a "People's Inauguration," my focus was on the people watching. Not the people up front in the privileged seats, but the people in the back, up in the trees, trying to get a good view. These were the people applauding the most. These were the people who were the most important ingredient in the inauguration." Lawrence is one of the most renowned African American artists on the American art scene today. His artwork's central themes are almost always, human activity done in a very narrative style. "He is celebrated as a painter depicting the African-American experience," his biographical sketch stated. His medium is most often tempera, and his simplified handling combines flattened forms with a primitive angularity. "My pictures express my life and experience," Lawrence has stated. "I paint the things I know about and the things I have experienced. The things I have experienced extend into my national, racial, and class group. So I paint the American scene."

Born in Atlantic City, NJ, Lawrence had moved from Easton to Philadelphia, PA, living in and out of foster homes before finally settling in Harlem, NY, with his mother, when he was 13. Lawrence studied with Charles Alston at the Harlem Art Workshop during high school and in the WPA art classes held there, after he graduated. In 1937, he obtained a scholarship to the American Artists School for 2 years. When his "Migration" Series was shown to the world in 1941, his first one-man exhibition held at the Downtown Gallery in New York City, Lawrence, 23 years old, "had broken through the color barrier with his art work and the two separate, segregated worlds agreed about his talent and his vision," wrote Elizabeth Hutton Turner in Southwest Art magazine.

"His work has been exhibited widely since the late 1930's, with major retrospectives organized by the Brooklyn Museum (1960), the Whitney Museum of American Art (1974), and the Seattle Art Museum (1986). His paintings are included in most major museum collections. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was nominated commissioner of the National Council of Arts by President Carter in 1978 and received the national Medal of Arts from President Bush in 1990. Mr. Lawrence has taught at Black Mountain College, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and at the University of Washington where he is currently a Professor Emeritus," Francine Seders Gallery Limited wrote.