Past Exhibitions: 2005

Jacob Lawrence: In Focus

May 28, 2005–September 11, 2005

Jacob Lawrence
American (United States), 1917-2000
Five Builders with Tool Box
1996
soft ground etching and aquatint on paper
Gift of Dr. James and Vivian Curtis, 2000/2.125
© 2005 Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was a figurative painter with an unparalleled gift for storytelling. One of the first artists trained in the African-American community in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s, Lawrence is renowned for visual dramatizations of the black experience, often depicted in narrative series of prints and paintings on a single theme. The sixteen works in this exhibition, which include a gouache from Lawrence's Harriet Tubman series, two works from the New York Transit print series, and his poignant exploration of the bombing of Hiroshima, reveal the artist's range of interests and powerful, often graphic style. Deeply committed to telling the stories of his own people, Lawrence saw himself as engaged, in his words, in exploring the "larger ethical or historical message about humanity as a whole."

This exhibition is made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

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