The Photographer 1942

Jacob Lawrence, a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, made this painting, "The Photographer," with tempera on paper. He’s using the traditional medium to depict modern life, which is an interesting tension right from the start. The sharp, blocky shapes are a deliberate choice, which lend the scene a sense of dynamism. Look at how the strong light beams, the angular figures, and the geometric forms of the camera equipment create a feeling of bustling activity. Lawrence applied thin, matte layers of tempera in a consciously flat style, avoiding traditional techniques like shading or perspective. This simplifies the forms, making them bold and graphic. We can see an almost assembly-line approach in Lawrence’s process, with a series of shapes composing each figure and object. There's a real labor on display here, both the labor of the people depicted and the labor of the artistic process. Lawrence is reminding us that art, just like photography, is a kind of work. It has its own means of production and its own relationship to the world around it.