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In Builders No. 2, three men are busy in a workshop cluttered with tools. The overall composition has a “certain tension.” Flat shapes, such as the central two-by-four and the denim pant legs of the foreground figures, reinforce the vertical format. The interacting diagonals of the worktable—a highlighted plank of wood, the left arm of the worker on the left, and the leg of the worker on the right—are all carefully balanced. The elevated viewpoint complements the tilted perspective, which makes tools appear as if they are floating. Painted with gouache and tempera over a graphite underdrawing, the colors are bright, but also matte, and manage to set off the flat, inscribed shapes. There is no apparent light source, and, as a result, very little modeling.
Lawrence painted scenes of construction workers as early as 1946, and revisited the theme many times over the next five decades. Like a lot of his subjects, the concept was rooted in a memory of his childhood: “When I was fifteen or sixteen, I was exposed to the workshop of these three brothers in Harlem, cabinetmakers. I got to know them and they got to know me. For me, tools became extensions of hands and movement.” [2] In Builders No. 2, the visual play between hands and tools energizes the composition; three hands are silhouetted against the bright yellow plank, and a frieze of tools runs across the top, while another set trails down the central axis. The hands are large and muscular—not unlike those of the artist who, like the builders, crafted things with his hands. These distortions, along with the compressed space, have earned Lawrence the moniker “expressive cubist.”
During the late 1960s, Lawrence showed renewed interest in his paintings of carpenters and construction workers, reflecting in part the socio-political tenor of the day. Opposition to the Vietnam War was eclipsing the fervor of the Civil Rights movement, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, followed by urban riots, were low points in American history. In paintings like Builders No. 2, he portrayed building as a communal activity and appealed for racial harmony, while at the same time reminding everyone that African Americans make significant contributions to American society. Despite the apparent stalemate in race relations, his position was one of optimism: “I like the symbolism of the [builder]. … I think of it as man’s aspiration, as a constructive tool.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Lawrence, panel discussion March 24, 1981, transcript, archives, Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
[2] Lawrence, interview with Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, April 12, 1996.
[3] Lawrence, quoted in Lowery Stokes Sims, “The Structure of Narrative: Form and Content in Jacob Lawrence’s Builders Paintings, 1946–1998,” in Peter T. Nesbitt, ed. Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2000), 209.
ProvenanceFrom 1968 to 1984
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Terry Dintenfass, Inc., New York in 1968. [1]
From 1984
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 28, 1984. [2]
Notes:
[1] Joan Durana Provenance Research, c. 1983 and coversheet c. 1981, object file.
[2] Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History1973
Builders: Jacob Lawrence
Terry Dintenfass, Inc., New York, NY (10/1973 - 11/1973)
Cat. No.2
1990 - 1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
1995
Exhibition and Reception for Jacob Lawrence
Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC (5/8/1995-5/15/1998)
2005 - 2006
Paper, Leather, Wood: Materials and African American Art of the Twentieth Century
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (11/15/2005 - 4/16/2006)
2021
The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (7/16/2021 - 12/12/2021)
2023
Black Mountain College: Seedbed of American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (3/10/2023-6/25/2023)
Published ReferencesBrooks, Rebecca & Colbert, Cynthia. Connections In Art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1996.
Millhouse, Barbara B. and Robert Workman. American Originals New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990: 128-9.
Reynolda House Annual Report. Winston-Salem NC: Wake Forest University, 2003.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 66, 67, 216, 217
Choi, Connie H. Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, American Federation of the Arts, New York: 2019, pg 119.
DepartmentAmerican Art
Builders No. 2
Artist
Jacob Lawrence
(1917 - 2000)
Date1968
Mediumgouache and tempera with graphite underdrawing on paper
DimensionsFrame: 36 1/2 x 27 7/8 in. (92.7 x 70.8 cm)
Image (visible): 30 x 21 1/4 in. (76.2 x 54 cm)
SignedJacob Lawrence 68
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
Copyright© 2021 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object number1984.2.13
DescriptionAn artist who painted narratives about fellow African Americans, Jacob Lawrence chafed when called a social realist. Yet, in his numerous depictions of slavery, struggle, Harlem streets, libraries, and construction workers he clearly had an agenda. He viewed ignorance and inactivity as other forms of slavery. In a panel discussion with poet Maya Angelou at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in 1981, he explained his view of the African-American artist: “We hope to probe, to touch a certain nerve, a certain tension. We continue to look, to observe, to experience that this will show in our work. As to the obligation to maintain a certain integrity—I think we [ethnic artists] are put under a tremendous burden.” [1]In Builders No. 2, three men are busy in a workshop cluttered with tools. The overall composition has a “certain tension.” Flat shapes, such as the central two-by-four and the denim pant legs of the foreground figures, reinforce the vertical format. The interacting diagonals of the worktable—a highlighted plank of wood, the left arm of the worker on the left, and the leg of the worker on the right—are all carefully balanced. The elevated viewpoint complements the tilted perspective, which makes tools appear as if they are floating. Painted with gouache and tempera over a graphite underdrawing, the colors are bright, but also matte, and manage to set off the flat, inscribed shapes. There is no apparent light source, and, as a result, very little modeling.
Lawrence painted scenes of construction workers as early as 1946, and revisited the theme many times over the next five decades. Like a lot of his subjects, the concept was rooted in a memory of his childhood: “When I was fifteen or sixteen, I was exposed to the workshop of these three brothers in Harlem, cabinetmakers. I got to know them and they got to know me. For me, tools became extensions of hands and movement.” [2] In Builders No. 2, the visual play between hands and tools energizes the composition; three hands are silhouetted against the bright yellow plank, and a frieze of tools runs across the top, while another set trails down the central axis. The hands are large and muscular—not unlike those of the artist who, like the builders, crafted things with his hands. These distortions, along with the compressed space, have earned Lawrence the moniker “expressive cubist.”
During the late 1960s, Lawrence showed renewed interest in his paintings of carpenters and construction workers, reflecting in part the socio-political tenor of the day. Opposition to the Vietnam War was eclipsing the fervor of the Civil Rights movement, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, followed by urban riots, were low points in American history. In paintings like Builders No. 2, he portrayed building as a communal activity and appealed for racial harmony, while at the same time reminding everyone that African Americans make significant contributions to American society. Despite the apparent stalemate in race relations, his position was one of optimism: “I like the symbolism of the [builder]. … I think of it as man’s aspiration, as a constructive tool.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Lawrence, panel discussion March 24, 1981, transcript, archives, Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
[2] Lawrence, interview with Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, April 12, 1996.
[3] Lawrence, quoted in Lowery Stokes Sims, “The Structure of Narrative: Form and Content in Jacob Lawrence’s Builders Paintings, 1946–1998,” in Peter T. Nesbitt, ed. Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2000), 209.
ProvenanceFrom 1968 to 1984
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Terry Dintenfass, Inc., New York in 1968. [1]
From 1984
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 28, 1984. [2]
Notes:
[1] Joan Durana Provenance Research, c. 1983 and coversheet c. 1981, object file.
[2] Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History1973
Builders: Jacob Lawrence
Terry Dintenfass, Inc., New York, NY (10/1973 - 11/1973)
Cat. No.2
1990 - 1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
1995
Exhibition and Reception for Jacob Lawrence
Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC (5/8/1995-5/15/1998)
2005 - 2006
Paper, Leather, Wood: Materials and African American Art of the Twentieth Century
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (11/15/2005 - 4/16/2006)
2021
The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (7/16/2021 - 12/12/2021)
2023
Black Mountain College: Seedbed of American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (3/10/2023-6/25/2023)
Published ReferencesBrooks, Rebecca & Colbert, Cynthia. Connections In Art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1996.
Millhouse, Barbara B. and Robert Workman. American Originals New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990: 128-9.
Reynolda House Annual Report. Winston-Salem NC: Wake Forest University, 2003.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 66, 67, 216, 217
Choi, Connie H. Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, American Federation of the Arts, New York: 2019, pg 119.
Status
Not on view