Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn was an American painter and graphic artist known for socially engaged images, expressive line, and work in tempera, gouache, watercolor, and oil.
Painter
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter known for vivid narrative series on Black life and history, including The Migration Series in tempera on hardboard.
Jacob Lawrence quick facts
Lawrence’s quick facts connect his narrative paintings and major series with historical subjects and the materials documented in representative works.
| Full name | Jacob Armstead Lawrence |
|---|---|
| Born | September 7, 1917 · Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | 2000 · Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Harlem Renaissance; socially engaged painting associated with Social Realism |
| Paint types | Casein tempera · Watercolor · Gouache |
| Other media | — |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Hardboard and composition board · Paper · Cardboard and paperboard |
| Painting methods | Applying one color across every panel of a series before moving to the next color |
| Common subjects | The Great Migration, Black history, workers, Harlem, family life, war, civil rights, and everyday community life |
| Notable works | The Migration Series, The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, and War Series |
Sources: Museum of Modern Art, MoMA: The Migration Series, MoMA: casein tempera panel, Smithsonian: Captain Skinner, Smithsonian: New Jersey, from the United States Series, and Smithsonian: The Library.
Paint types used by Jacob Lawrence
Lawrence used casein tempera for The Migration Series and watercolor and gouache on paper for works such as The Photographer, showing distinct approaches.
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Casein paint
Lawrence used casein tempera across the sixty panels of The Migration Series, which MoMA catalogs as casein tempera on hardboard. The quick-setting, matte medium suited the coordinated blocks of color and sharply bounded forms that carry the series’ account of migration; the panels were planned to work as one sustained narrative.
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Watercolor
The Met catalogs The Photographer as watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper. Lawrence’s watercolor work belongs to a separate sheet-based practice from the casein-tempera panels of The Migration Series, with drawing and transparent passages sharing the same support. The Met directly names both the medium and support.
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Gouache
In The Photographer, the Met records gouache alongside watercolor and graphite. The opaque paint provides denser color passages within the paper composition, contrasting with the watercolor’s more transparent handling. This documented sheet shows Lawrence using gouache in works on paper as well as casein on panel.
Sources: MoMA: The Migration Series, panel 1.; The Met: The Photographer; Birmingham Museum of Art: Builders No. 1
Painting surfaces used by Jacob Lawrence
Collection entries identify painting board and paper among Jacob Lawrence’s supports, with the examples below grounding each material in documented works.
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Painting Board
MoMA identifies the supports for The Migration Series as hardboard, while other collection records describe Lawrence’s rigid composition-board panels. He painted each panel as part of a coordinated sequence, so the smooth, stable boards carried both individual scenes and the series’ continuous narrative.
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Paper
Lawrence also made drawings and painted sheets on paper. The Met’s The Photographer, a watercolor, gouache, and graphite work, documents paper as the support for layered media; this compact format differs from the rigid panels he used for the Migration Series.
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Cardboard
Museum records document Lawrence’s use of cardboard and paperboard for selected works on paper and studies. These lightweight supports belong to smaller, portable works rather than the hardboard panels of The Migration Series; they show that his support choices varied with the scale and purpose of the work.
Sources: Museum of Modern Art, MoMA: The Migration Series, MoMA: casein tempera panel, Smithsonian: Captain Skinner, Smithsonian: New Jersey, from the United States Series.
Painters similar to Jacob Lawrence
Explore painters connected to Lawrence through narrative figuration, socially engaged subjects, bold graphic structure, and American modernism.
Paul Cadmus
Paul Cadmus was an American painter known for figurative social satire, sustained egg tempera, and casein, watercolor, and gouache studies on paper.