The Great Migration( Art Gallery)

The Great Migration (Art Gallery)

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the institution]

[Date]

The Great Migration (Art Gallery)

How is the series a testimony of its time? 

The series of paintings which was made by Jacob Lawrence in 1941 is authentic evidence of its time because Jacob was only 23 years old back then when he portrayed the significant migration movement into his hardboard. He witnessed the historical movement from his eyes and reflected them in his paintings keeping in consideration all the small details needed for clear description. He has used all the colors carefully in each of his paintings showing the audience the perfect scenario of that time that takes us back to the time of great migration. He not only managed to capture the history in his paintings but also reflected the social aspects faced by immigrants at that time.

How do you think the sequence was looked at the time of its creation? How do we look at it today?

The sequence gained enormous popularity between people at that time as the paintings talked to the immigrants on the levels only familiar to them. The paintings were a blend of reality and critical thinking which were presented in a very artistic way. These paintings are consistent even now as the same situation is happening in the world in one way or another. Lawrence challenged the difficult and bitter truths that were unable to digest by the people. He used his paintings to talk to the society about the issues they do not want to face with words.

Choose one painting in the sequence. What is being shown? What are the components of the image? Where is the viewer’s eye drawn to, and why?

Below is a painting was chosen from his famous collection of the great migration.

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The reason for choosing this painting is that the picture is very thought-provoking. The first things that capture the eyes of the viewer are the dark atmosphere along with the white man sitting right in the center of the painting. The next thing that eye catches is the skin color of the people shown in a black coat. The main sitting in a higher position is a white man white other two people who are standing in front of him are black. This represents the height of racial discrimination African Americans had to face in the southern states. This is one of the reasons why they chose to migrate because they were witnessing injustice even in courts.

In order to have a more complete understanding of migration movements to cities, what other visual and/or literary sources could be useful?

The other visual similar to great migration in understanding is, Walter Ellison's famous 1935 painting "Train station", "The foundation of Chicago" by Aaron Douglas and many more. In literary works, the two famous books that will help in understanding the great migration are The Southern Diaspora: how the great migrations of Black and White Southerners transformed America by James N. Gregory and Black Exodus: the great migration from the American South by Alferdteen Harrison.

References

Burke, P. (2008). Eyewitnessing: The uses of images as historical evidence. Cornell University Press.

Rose, G. (2016). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. sage.