Storytelling in Motion: Jacob Lawrence's "The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis. The King James Version."

Ty Alyea — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Lawrence, no. 1: ("In the Beginning--All was Void") Image From: Bill Hdoges Gallery

Replete with bright flashes of color, the "Genesis" series of Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), currently on display on the back wall of the Harry Ransom Center's King James Bible exhibition, pulled me in like a tractor beam from across the room. It is perhaps only appropriate, then, that the subject of this series is an enthralling spectacle of storytelling and creation.Though Lawrence is perhaps best known for his "Migration Series," a sixty-panel retelling of the African-Americans' migration across the United States, Lawrence's comparatively short (8 panel) portrayal of the narration of Genesis deserves attention for its ability to express a powerful sense of motion in a single place.

Lawrence, no. 2 "(And God Created Day and the Night and God put Stars in the Sky")

Image from: Savannah College of Art and Design

As the Savannah College of Art and Design tells us, Lawrence based his paintings on his memory of Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr.'s sermons at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. Throughout the sequence, we can see that while the setting remains the same, the preacher's sermon literally transports the parishoners around the room, and, seemingly through space as well. The world outside appears to totally change, filling in from the "Void" pictured above and yielding to a rich world of plenty.

Lawrence, no. 4 ("And God Said -- let the Earth bring Forth Grass, Trees, Fruits and Herbs") Image from: Savannah College of Art and Design

As we move through the images, we can see how the preacher's expressive motions remain at the front and center of the image, capturing a sense of direct inspiration from above and radiating from the text itself. The shifting colors of his cloak, the flower vase near him, and the room itself capture a feeling of constant transformation as well. We also notice gradual changes in the arrangement of the congregation. Enthralled by the story being told, we see the congregation shifting their seats, sometimes staring at the preacher, sometimes looking up to the heavens, and on other occassions looking out the window. The neighborhoods of Harlem were in fact a major influence for Lawrence's artistic motiffs and color schemes, and their arrays of clothing, frequently synchs up with the varieties of colors inside the church and outside the windows.

Lawrence, no. 5: ("And God created all the fowl of the air and the fishes of the sea") Image from: Savannah College of Art and Design

Another significant image that we can trace throughout the images is a small box filled with tools.

Lawrence: nos. 6 ("And God Created all the Beasts of the Earth") and 7 ("And God Created Man and Woman") Images from Savannah College of Art and Design

As the images progress, we see the box behind and next to the pews (visible at the very top in image 6 and at the rear of the pew in image 7). But in the final image (below), which places the entirety of the congregation near the window showing a completed creation, the box sits in front of the group of parishoners.

Lawrence, no. 8. ("The Creation was done--and all was good") Image from Savannah College of Art and Design

This shift, I suggest points to the passing of the torch from God to the people. With his work completed, it's time for people do their own work as they look at the feast of plentitutde and creation before them. In doing so, Lawrence demonstrates a legacy between the holy text, its mediator, with the community's sense of common purpose.

Lee Price and Exposed Eating

Megan Eatman — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:36:17 +0000

Lee Price, Sunday. H/t to Jezebel, Sociological Images

Lee Price paints photorealistic portraits of her subject (usually herself) consuming food that we might label "bad:" for example, McDonalds, cupcakes, pie, and so on. While Dr. Lisa Wade's piece for Sociological Images focused on the way these paintings make public what is often a shameful, private act and elevate it through the use of "high" medium (painting), I was most interested in the way these images seem to acknowledge these commonly held beliefs about indulgent consumption even as they complicate them. I'd like to take a stab at raising more questions about Price's work and how it formulates an argument about bodies, pleasure, shame, and excess. Pictures after the jump are NSFW.

For me, these images as a collection walk the line between embracing a bottomless desire (hence the sometimes enormous amount of food) and lingering painfully in a temporary and shameful pleasure. The bird's eye view in the image at the top of the post suggests spying; additionally, the subject is hunched with her face hidden. This composition contrasts sharply with the image below, which, while it retains the bird's eye view, is somewhat more focused on open indulgence.

Lee Price, Grilled Cheese II

The different settings in Price's work contribute to their arguments as well. The subject in Sunday appears to be in a living room, perhaps her own; the lovely furniture indicates some degree of affluence. While the living room is more public than the bathtub/bathroom or, in the image below, the bedroom, it is hard for me to read the affluence without thinking about the prevalence of eating disorders in upper middle class "Western" women. While the image in the bathtub seems more celebratory, the image in the living room almost seems to indicate an unproblematic open secret; that is, a behavior that is less secret than it is too obvious or ingrained to be worth mentioning.

Lee Price, Refuge

I will say that Price's more recent work seems to skew more toward the pleasurable sides of indulgence. The images below are all from the section labeled "current work" on Price's website, whereas Sunday and Refuge are both older pieces.

Lee Price, Jelly Doughnuts

Lee Price, Lemon Meringue

Lee Price, Happy Meal

When the piece on Price ran on Jezebel, several commenters also noted the rhetorical effect of Price's body size. While showing women of a variety of sizes--including obese women, who are more likely to be publicly judged for their eating habits--would make a different argument, but the repetition of the same woman also has an interesting effect. Looking at the paintings as a series constructs a narrative of repeated, consequence-free indulgence which is, in some ways, a fantasy. But the repetition also emphasizes a point: savoring something delicious, even when it is "bad" and even in excess, can be a source of decadent pleasure.

viz. - painting

Storytelling in Motion: Jacob Lawrence's "The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis. The King James Version."

Lee Price and Exposed Eating