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Summary Of Jacob Lawrence's The Builders

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Summary Of Jacob Lawrence's The Builders
Jacob Lawrence is an African American painter known for his style of "dynamic cubism". He was born September 7, 1917 in Atlantic City, New York. He died June 9, 2000 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 82. The Builders (the family), is one of Lawrence's paintings featuring construction. This work was made on silk screen on wove paper, made in year 1974, 30 x 22-1/8 in size and currently resides in the DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY. In the painting, you see a family of African Americans walking down a sidewalk, dressed in what seems to be Saturdays best. In the background you see a group of construction workers working on a wooden fence of some sorts. The sky of the painting is very dull with only gray and white, indicating they might be in the city. This family is meaningful because they represent the average family going through life, giving their best. The builders (the family) shows the construction of a new era for African Americans being built as they move forwards into the world with dignity.
Lines in this artwork are used to shape the area and people in it, most of the lines are the same color of the object that’s being drawn, but with clothes it's a darker or lighter hue. Color in this piece is mostly dark along with warm colors to create balance in the color. There is hardly any value to this piece because of its simple format. The 2-D shapes are enclosed in a outline to show …show more content…
Lawrence contributed many works that shown how life was and how life changed in the African American eye. He gained lots of respect and love from fans of his work. The way he created his art depicted themes of diversity, respect and resilience. He used simple ways of painting to point out major problems and solutions in the eyes of Americans, using dynamic cubism as his way of spreading the general idea of
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