Lawrence's Portraits: I am Beautiful
Part 1: What makes me special?
Introduce:
- Read aloud What I Like About Me! by Allia Nolan.
- After reading the book, ask students the following questions:
- What were some things that made the kids in the book special?
- What makes you special?
- Explain that students will now look at artists’ self-portraits and think about what they think makes them special.
Part 2: Studying Portraits
Explore:
- Look at this self-portrait by Jacob Lawrence.
- Explain to students that a self-portrait is a picture an artist creates of themself.
- For grade 1, in groups of 3, have students discuss:
- What do you notice in the painting?
- Based on what you notice about his self-portrait, what do you think makes Jacob Lawrence special?
- For grades 2-4:
- In pairs, have students complete the Looking 10 x 2 activity on chart paper.
- To prepare for the activity, create two columns on the paper. In each column, write numbers 1-10.
- Then, do the Looking 10 x 2 activity:
- Study the portrait for 30 seconds.
- Together, come up with a list of 10 things they noticed.
- Look at the painting for another 30 seconds.
- Write a second list of 10 things they noticed.
- Bring students together and discuss:
- What did you notice about the painting?
- What do you think makes Jacob Lawrence special? Explain your answer based on things you noticed in the painting.
- In pairs, have students complete the Looking 10 x 2 activity on chart paper.
Extension:
- Have students look at the following self-portraits:
- Kenturah Davis, Meditation V, 2014
- Betye Saar, Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait, 1992
- Faith Ringgold, Early Works #25: Self-Portrait,1965
- In partners, students should answer these questions:
- For grades 1-2:
- What do I see in the self-portrait?
- What do I think about the person in the portrait? Why do I think that?
- What makes the person in the portrait special? Why do I think that?
- For grades 3-4:
- How did the artists compose their self-portraits? (Explain that “compose” means to create.)
- What materials did they use?
- How would you describe the style? Is it realistic or not?
- What objects did I notice in the self-portraits?
- What might those objects tell us about the artist?
- What colors did the artists use in their self-portraits?
- What might those colors tell us about the artist?
- If you could choose one word to describe the artists based on the self-portrait, what would it be?
- How did the artists compose their self-portraits? (Explain that “compose” means to create.)
- For grades 1-2:
- After analyzing the self-portraits, students discuss their responses as a whole group.
Part 3: Creating Portraits
- Students will create self-portraits that capture who they are. They should use this self-portrait planner to get started.
- For grade 1, you may want to ask these questions out loud.
- To create their self-portraits, students can use any available materials and should try to use techniques they observed from one of the artists studied:
- Jacob Lawrence: geometric shapes, biomorphic shapes, limited colors
- Kenturah Davis: drawings with words/language, textiles, sculptures
- Betye Saar: collage (two-dimensional cut-outs to create a picture), objects that appear to be floating
- Faith Ringgold: flat figures and shapes
Share:
- Create an art gallery for students to display their self-portraits.
- Conduct a gallery walk. Students should share what they notice about their classmates’ self-portraits and what they think it says about them.
Visual Context
Here are some artwork and images to further contextualize the content of the lesson. You can incorporate the images into your lessons or use them to build your own background knowledge.
Please note: Images are available to download only for personal, noncommercial use. For any questions about image rights and reproductions, please contact imagerights@phillipscollection.org.
Jacob Lawrence, Self-Portrait, 1977
Faith Ringgold, Early Works #25: Self-Portrait, 1965
Betye Saar, Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait, 1992
Kenturah Davis, Meditation V, 2014
Additional Context
Lesson Context
Jacob Lawrence was a famous American painter who depicted and celebrated the lives and experiences of African Americans, and Black people more widely, through his art. Lawrence painted what life was like in the Black community and was deeply invested in portraying and educating about the history of Black people.
Lawrence not only painted scenes from his neighborhood, but he also painted portraits of people. Some of these portraits were of himself, some of everyday people doing everyday things, and some of significant African-American historical figures. These portraits not only depicted the accomplishments and contributions of these people, but also provided, in Lawrence’s words, “something to be proud of, something to look up to.”
Today, many other famous Black artists such as Kenturah Davis, Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold also create portraits with the same goal as Lawrence—to provide Black people with positive images of themselves, portraits that show their rich and beautiful history and identity.
Key Terms
Biomorphic: Shapes that we see in nature like flowers, animals, and clouds
Collage: Art that is created by combining together different materials, such as photographs, pieces of paper, or fabric.
Geometric: Shapes that are like triangles, squares, rectangles, circles, trapezoids. We don’t often see them in the natural, outside world. They usually have straight lines and angles.
Portraiture: Art that shows a detailed depiction of a person.
Self-portrait: A portrait of an artist created by that artist.
Textile: Fabric made by weaving together yarn or thread.