Jacob Lawrence Art Analysis: Panel 1

1. In the artwork, Panel 1, of Jacob Lawrence, Lawrence’s style is non-objective and abstract. Though, you can make out the artwork of what it is, Lawrence did not solely focus on one particular part of the artwork, but instead the artwork as a whole is more focused on the figures as a big group instead of just one individual.

2. This specific piece of Lawrence does not have a focal point, but instead the audience focuses on the whole artwork. One clear thing to me as an audience is that the colors Lawrence uses are very similar. There are more cool colors compare to warm colors, and Lawrence mostly uses this to avoid having just one main focal point. Most importantly, the colors are dark and blends in and this doesn’t create a focal point in the painting. Although you can see wordings in the painting, it doesn’t take the audience’s attention away from the picture as a whole.

3. In this painting, the subject matter is the human figures and migration. However, Lawrence does not create any specific faces for the human figures. Although Lawrence doesn’t give the people in the paintings any identities, you can still recognize that his main subject is the people. More specifically, the paintings depict African Americans in the South fleeing or moving up into the North to escape the Southern discrimination.

4. The lines in this painting is created to shape each of the different figures that Lawrence shows in the pictures, and in addition, Lawrence uses lines to create the signs and gates that the figures enter through in order to reach the other side. These “contour lines” brings and defines the figures.

5. Lawrence uses geometric shapes to create forms and figures in the artwork and as can be seen, Lawrence did not carefully measured the figures, but however he was able to create the forms of human