Welcome AP/Drawing & Painting class of 2010!
Let's start by simply asking yourself the following question regarding Jacob Lawrence's 1942 painting (inserted above), Tombstones: Write a statement about what you believe is being symbolized within the painting. What elements and principles of design might the artist have utilized to assist you in drawing those conclusions? Feel free to add to or comment on other responses.
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ReplyDeleteFirst to comment! Ha.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that in this painting life and death is being symbolized, as well as a sense of community. It sort of represents the life cycle because the newborn being held by the mother (and is that another one in the stroller?) is juxtaposed with the tombstones, creating a contrast of symbols. I also think that there may be a religious reference as well, due to the cross right in the middle of the tombstones.
I think that Jacob Lawrence is making a statement on rising out of poverty. There is a siginifigant upward sense of motion in the painting and the starting point is dark and maloncholy while the endpoint is at the top of the stairs where there is more color. The lower half is poverty symbolysed by tombstones and a mother holding her child and the path upward is just a general exit.
ReplyDeleteI think that Lawrence was symbolizing a rise out of sorrow in this piece. The tombstones, the child in the lower left hand side who has lost his/her doll out of the stroller, and the mother who appears to be cradling a child in a depressed manner represent the helpess, to me. They can't really help themselves out of their sorrow at this time. Then the stairs represent a literal and figurative climb out of the sorrow. Some people stop along the way, and maybe they need a helping hand? And the door at the top of the stairs is welcoming and open, ushering people into a colorful world of joy. The people in the windows lok down upon those who are enveloped in their misery below them, perhaps reflecting on their pasts.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what I think of when I see this painting, but my attention goes straight to the tombstones. I think "Oh, there are tombstones. Someone must have passed away." But the tombstones make the feel of this painting very sad, very dark. I kept looking back at this picture and thought "Maybe this symbolizes that everyone has to pass someday. It's part of human life. If we could live forever, we definitely would, but we can't." So maybe Mr. Lawrence was symbolizing that.
ReplyDeleteI think that the artwork is symbolizing the pathway from death to heaven. At the bottom of the stairs there are a bunch of graves, and plus the street's name is Tombstones. This symbolizes death. As you go up the stairs, however, it becomes more colorful and bright.
ReplyDeleteI believe the piece is trying to symbolise some kind of depression within the piece, with the multiple tombstones, the child int eh stroller whom's doll has fallen, and the sadened figures in the piece. The use of red is drawing my eye around the piece, bring it up and down. The use of lines is helping in the way the stair case also draws one's eyes up towards it. To continue looking at the depressed figures.
ReplyDeletei think this portrait is showing how to overcome the pain life brings. the man is climbing the steps and overcoming what the child and the woman cant...death perhaps. the man is moving on to better things while the rest of the people are stuck feeling sorrowful.
ReplyDeletei remeber that you taught us this as a "life cycle," but i think the theme of the painting is more close to rebirth. on the bottom of right side, there is a mother who is trying to hold her dead baby, but the baby is already placed in the line of the way going to heaven. (the right line is the way going to heaven and the left line is the way going back from the heaven (rebirth). and the people on the right side are usually dark color since their souls are really tired because of all the things happened in the Earth, but the people on the left side are usually bright colors since they refreshed their souls by resting on the heaven.) However, because his mother was holding him so tightly, the baby cannot go to the heave, but looking at her mom.
ReplyDeleteon the window of the heaven, there is a person, which i can refer as resting on the heaven.
left side of the tombstone is real life and right side of the tombstone is the way going to heaven. I guess he did not think the real life as the world full with happiness, since he uses brighter colors for the heaven part.
(I'M LIKE A WEEK LATE, MY BAD. D:)
ReplyDeleteI think this piece symbolizes African Americans in a certain time period as a whole. Wherein that clinging to your children was the only thing you could do to keep them alive in the shadow of death. The bright colors are very contrary however, and they show that this particular group of people did not completely succumb to the harsh environment around them--rather, they, as shown by the stairs and the open door, decide that they will "rise above" and "carry on", despite the physical and emotional injuries they've suffered.
AND I'M PROBABLY WRONG. \O/ But hey. That's what I think. :3