Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence

by Peter Nesbett (Editor)

Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence includes essays by eight distinguished art historians examining the ways in which Jacob Lawrence's art speaks so powerfully to different audiences. It is the first multi-author, in-depth probe of the artist's entire career: the nature of his work, his education, the critical climate in which he worked, and his use of materials and techniques. It reproduces, in full color, more than 200 works, most of which have not been published in color, or at all, in other books on the artist.

An extensive chronology, collating events in his life with his public reception -- including selected exhibitions, publications, honors, and awards -- is illustrated with family photographs. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) spent his childhood in New York City, attending classes at the Harlem Community Art Center and the American Artists School, and later working for the Federal Art Project. While still in his twenties Lawrence exhibited his paintings at major museums across the country, including the Phillips Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he became the first African American artist represented in the permanent collection. He lived, painted, and taught in New York City until 1971, when he moved to Seattle to join the faculty of the University of Washington. He was the recipient of numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts.

The paperback edition of Over the Line is published in conjunction with a major exhibition opening at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, on May 26, 2001, and traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Genres: Art, Essays

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Deb Oestreicher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully produced art book with many insightful essays about Jacob Lawrence's work. I have admired this artist's work for many years, but didn't know much about him, so the essays in this volume helped me to understand his background and the context of his paintings. Excellent, interesting reading and beautiful reproductions.

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays were just too dry and full of academic jargon for me to read for fun, but the art! wow, beautifully reproduced bright colors and patterns. I'd seen his paintings one or two at a time, but seeing so many at once is great and lets you see how his style developed. Some paintings are spare and emotional, like Munch or other expressionaists, others are fractured and as dynamic as the futurists. Most of them are of people, and tiny details really make them come alive.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by the work of Jacob Lawrence for years: the strong narrative series he created at an early age (“The Migration of the Negro”, “The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture”, etc.) as well as the cubist styles of his later work such as the “Builders” series of paintings. This book discusses his life, his art, and his place in American art history.

His sudden fame at a young age thrust him into the art world as the principal Black artist of his day (in the late 1930s), a position that startled him and which his quiet demeanor was unsuited to. However, he continued to develop his art while holding fast to the basic techniques he learned in Harlem.

The essays in this book explain his progress and development, lavishly illustrated by his paintings. The book reads like a good museum showcase, simultaneously telling and showing its points. The last chapter dives deeply into his techniques and how he changed his use of paint over time, perhaps because as he gained resources he could branch out from the early, cheaper paints readily available to him in Harlem.