The Iceman

This 1936 motion picture entitled The Iceman d nonpareil by Jacob Lawrence was completed sometime during the Harlem Renaissance. The photo is a typical portrait of and an h angiotensin converting enzymest reflection of daily flavour in 1930s Harlem, New York. It back well represent whatever urban city during this time period. The artist uses the painting to show the connection, or lack thereof, between the neighborhoods residents, as they depend to go about their daily routines without the social interaction that allied concourse during quantify of struggle.Lawrence employs symbolism and imagery to show how the neighborhood lacked connection. On first see of the painting, three residents are noniced, all in their own apartments, being sell ice by the iceman standing on the street, and his helper. As the apartments are all in such close proximity of one another, one would believe that the residents would be interacting with each other. But at a next glance, it is seen th at they are all minding their own business. This is strange for the era. It is well known that during the 1930s, sequestration and racism were at their worst.In the north, tensions were high between the black and white classes delinquent to the increased number of African-Americans migrating to larger cities. In the minds of the whites, the blacks were taking over. In most cases, when tragic or intense situations like this occur, it is typical for slew to ban together and tread through the problems as a altogether community yet in this case. Whether or not these people were documentary Harlem residents, it is quite unlikely that this separation of community would have really happened.Community is delimitate as an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common positioning, with interacting being the keyword. The characters made up in this painting include the iceman and his helper with the pushcart, a window washer, a woman possibly iron or cooking, a man trying to hold onto his dog, and a darken figure in an alley. Though these people appear to be financially on the poorer side, they still go about their lives separately, and with the ease of daily routine. It would be expected that at least two of these characters would be interacting with each other, for the interestingness of survival.Surprisingly, though, none of the residents are looking at each other, and they seem not to even notice the person living next to them. It is possible that Lawrence utilise this imagery after witnessing a lack of connection within a community such as this one. He might have valued to influence Harlem residents to unify during these times of segregation. Jacob Lawrence used subtle symbolism to state the neighborhoods physical lack of connection. It is not immediately seen, scarcely if one were to be inside the painting at the scene, there would be tangible evidence of the lack of connection the invoke ladder.It doesnt seem to have any initial importance, other than being a semen of escape, but in taking a closer look, it can easily be a symbol of disconnect within the community. Most fire escape ladders are constructed so that when they are necessary to be used, they can be pushed downward and the ladder will reach all the port to the ground. In this painting, the ladder does not reach the ground, making it more rugged for its users to escape. The ladder not connecting to the ground can be paralleled with the residents not connecting with one another.Tragedy has proven time and time again to be a unifier of worlds when people seem to be at their most distant, especially for African-Americans in the 1930s, except in the case of The Iceman, in which the community remained separated, even though their lives overlapped. Jacob Lawrence seemed to want to bring about a wave of pride in his people by painting this and using artistic elements to influence his audience. He put forth the use of subtle symbolism and imagery to give way a lack of connection within this Harlem neighborhood.