Sandra K. Friday
Art rendering Jacob Lawrence’s Confrontation at the Bridge
Objective: To take the students through a process that will make them visually literate about this painting, a process that they will be able to use on other paintings. This process is a rubric that will unfold as we render:
analyze, interpret,
connect with
, and
critique
the painting. Students will use graphic organizers to record their findings. The rubric will be reinforced when students use it in lesson plan three, when they render Henry Farny’s painting
Song of the Talking Wire
. Actually, it is a rubric that students can use in art rendering any painting. Students will use graphic organizers as they move through the process, so they will be able to observe and assess their own progress and have a model to follow for future art rendering.
In questioning Lawrence’s choice of topic and his representation, students will consider how and to what extent the people in this painting fit the definition of
invisible people
: those marginalized and disenfranchised in American society.
Students will use three graphic organizers in the first two steps, analyzing and interpreting, of the art rendering process. The first graphic organizer will be divided vertically; on the left side they will record
objects
they see in the painting. . . .simply naming the objects. On the next graphic organizer, also divided vertically, they will list on the left side, the
colors
they see in the painting, again leaving the right side blank for now. They will do the same on the third graphic organizer, on which they will describe, on the left side, the
composition and flow
of the painting. For example, students will record the people on the right, attempting to cross the bridge; they will record the open mouth of the dog and what looks like a bayonet, coming across from the other side. There is a repetition of very white teeth and wide-open eyeballs against the brown skin of the people crossing the bridge. This observation will be recorded on the left side of the organizer.
Students will first look at a slide of
Confrontation at the Bridge
and
identify objects
such as the railing of the bridge, or the gaping mouth of the dog, or the pointed clouds, or the bared teeth and bulging eyeballs of the people on the bridge. Then they will
identify colors.
Lawrence uses a limited number of colors that are consistent in hue in this painting: black, blue gold, red, green, brown and white. The repetition and depth of the colors intensifies the mood of the painting. Because the bridge is black and there is black in the clouds and in the reflections in the water under the bridge, black is probably the dominant color. Aside from two red dresses and a woman’s red hair, the other red in the painting is the inside of the dog’s mouth, the underside of a bayonet, a horizontal streak in the clouds, and in several places as reflections in the water under the bridge.
When students are asked to
interpret
this painting, they will learn how to find meaning in the use and repetition of color. This repetition of color and shape is a technique known as
doubling
; it is not by coincidence that the inside of the dog’s mouth and the underside of a bayonet are both red. Repeating the color and shape in clouds and reflections in the water reinforces the tension.
In looking at the
composition
of the painting, students will readily observe that the people on the right who are making their way over the bridge are about to be confronted by dogs and bayonets. Students cannot miss the very ominous black cloud formation, with a bayonet shape at the leading edge, coming at the people out of the left side of the painting, that might be a cloud or it might be a monster of some sort insinuating itself above the attack dog. Clearly two opposing forces are about to come together on the bridge; the fact that they have not yet met physically makes the painting all the more urgent and forever frozen in anticipation. In the
composition
of the painting, Lawrence has used the technique that I mentioned earlier called
doubling
that reinforces the urgency. Students will find bayonet shapes on the left side of the bridge, in the cloud formations, and in the reflections in the water under the bridge. It may be impossible to separate composition and flow of the painting from interpretation and as that is the next step, it may not be necessary.
Now I will challenge the students to
interpret
the painting to determine what Lawrence is trying to convey. Students will use the right side of their graphic organizers as they begin to name what the objects, colors, repetition of colors, and composition and flow actually represent. At this point students will need to know that Lawrence was commissioned to do a painting for a portfolio of American art to celebrate our Bicentennial, and for his topic he chose Civil Rights demonstrators, with Martin Luther King, in 1963, attempting to cross a bridge into Birmingham, Alabama, being met by police and attack dogs. It would be an excellent Internet exercise for students to research this to get more information on the specific event that Lawrence is depicting to help determine what value or point of view from the incident Lawrence is expressing in his painting. Students might speculate on why an African American artist would choose to commemorate this incident for the Bicentennial celebration of this country.
Depending on interest and ambition, students might even compare photos from this incident with the painting to make observations on the differences.
Next, I will ask students if they have ever felt this frightened, if they have ever started something and then wished they were anywhere else, out of either physical or psychological danger. In the face of confrontation, when is it tempting to cut and run? It is at this stage that students are
connecting
with the emotions that are being conveyed by the people in the painting. I might ask them to brainstorm together in what situations other than the one in the painting could this kind of confrontation and fear take place. Clearly these people are not equipped to fight attack dogs and bayonets. Civil Rights demonstrators led by Martin Luther King were unarmed; that was the point of their peaceful demonstrations.
Connecting
with the painting lends itself to writing activities.
Finally, students will
critique
Confrontation at the Bridge
by determining how effective Lawrence is in his effort to represent this historic event. Here students will have to express what they think he was trying to convey, drawing upon the work they have done up to this point. This might make for an interesting brainstorming session on the board that students could then discuss in an orderly fashion or once the ideas are up on the board, students could pick the one they think comes closest to what Lawrence is trying to do and write about whether they think he succeeded and how. I have learned in my seminar that nothing in a painting is coincidental: objects, color, composition, and that in considering the success of the artist’s work, none of these elements should be overlooked.
This rubric:
analyze, interpret, connect with
, and
critique
can be practiced on other paintings, and when the students come to the point of choosing the painting that they will reproduce for their final project, they can use this rubric to render that piece of art. Or, if they choose to create their own piece of art, they can apply the rubric to it.