Target With Four Color Analysis

1. A defining characteristic of the Harlem Renaissance was the characterization of African American migration throughout the centuries. Jacob Lawrence, through his Migration Series 1941, a compilation of fused scenes embodied the black displacement struggle before and during the Great Depression. This piece, made from multiple panels tells the narrative of the African American group as a whole, moving along the years from their ancestral homelands to Southern plantations, to the North. Lawrence depicted scenes of poor housing, unfair work, and institutionalized prejudice through Italian renaissance easel technique and inclusional Christian narrative - an example of syncretism and evidence of departure from American regionalism. Rather than glorifying the history and traditions of a given area, typical of regionalism (which would not apply to the plight of American blacks), Lawrence and other
Jasper Johns’ work is an example of social attitudes towards homosexuality as well as an embodiment of secrecy and symbolism that characterized Cold War America. As a result of John’s sexuality, his early message was often misrepresented or criticized, leading him to create pieces that were seemingly difficult to understand and highly symbolic. John’s piece, Target with Four Faces 1955 explains the use of targets in his work. Used as a method of focus redirection, the blankness of the target allows for a viewer’s interpretative input, which along with the silent figures above the target create an overall portrayal of the individualist subcultures that existed in Cold War America. Johns also frequently used the image of an American flag as a symbolic representation of uncertainty and inquiry - the truth of the nature of the flag and what it stands for, combined with the many newspaper title clippings (which further characterized the importance of individuality) embedded subtly in the painting made a viewer ask “what does this flag really mean? What does it really