cover image Jacob Lawrence: American Scenes, American Struggles

Jacob Lawrence: American Scenes, American Struggles

Nancy Shroyer Howard. Sterling Publishing (NY), $14.95 (48pp) ISBN 978-0-87192-302-8

Howard's tribute to Jacob Lawrence (see Toussaint L'Ouverture, reviewed above) takes on the artist's personal history, the intricacies of his ""collage cubist"" style, the lives of four black heroes and the reader's own creative imagination-all at once. As the stories of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and John Brown-as well as the artist's own life-unfold in excerpts from Lawrence's series of paintings, exercises help the reader understand the artist's use of symbolism, composition and abstraction. Simple activities urge readers to experience the paintings through movement (""You can see how the artist creates a dramatic mood by posing your body in the same positions as Harriet [Tubman]'s body"") or through the creation of their own images and stories. Driven by the multiple imperatives of history, art history and biography, the busy layout eventually becomes visually exhausting. The final, unillustrated biographical note fills in material that is elsewhere covered in fragments. While the mishmash of text, captions, biographical quotes and exercises is intended to help readers see the art, the eclectic format leaves little opportunity for quiet contemplation. Ages 8-up. (Oct.)