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Butler

Frederick K. Weisman Art Museum/Univ. of Minnesota, Minn.

Frederick K. Weisman Art Museum (special exhibit)

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Born in Harlem, Lawrence was a high school dropout who grew up with no father and a mother who was often on welfare.  His mother sent him to Utopia House at age 12, though, so he could receive hot lunches and art training.   She tried to color their surroundings with bright throw rugs.  The memory of these patterns would later exhibit itself in his artwork.

When Lawrence started painting, he would walk about 60 blocks to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he could study the Old Masters.

Early in his career, Lawrence started producing series of canvases featuring  leaders such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman.

Lawrence was hired by the WPA Federal Art Project in 1938.  Three years later, his series The Migration of the Negro received national recognition when Fortune magazine reproduced 26 of the paintings in its November issue.   Lawrence was also invited to join the group of artists featured by the Downtown Gallery in New York.  Others in the group included Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler and Stuart Davis.

Lawrence was drafted in 1943.  It was his fortune to be assigned as a combat artist stationed on the first truly integrated ship in the Navy.

After being discharged, Lawrence received many awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship.  He was invited to teach at the progressive Black Mountain College in North Carolina.  When the pressure became too much for him he checked into a mental hospital for eight months.  His good attitude about life resulted in a series of canvases about his stay in the hospital.

In 1971 Lawrence began teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle.