Speed Art Museum

© John Nation 1998

Louisville, KY

302-634-2700

http://www.speedmuseum.org

Jacob Lawrence: The Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Series of 1938-40

The Speed Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition on February 6, 2001 celebrating the life and work of Jacob Lawrence, one of the foremost American painters of the twentieth century, an African-American artist and teacher, who died last June at the age of 82. (left: Harriet Tubman series No. 10, 1939-40, Casein tempera on gessoed hardboard, Hampton University Art Museum, Hampton, Virginia)

The Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman series of 1938-40 are among Lawrence's greatest achievements as a painter. Including 32 and 31 images, respectively, the narratives document the struggles and heroic achievements of these two nineteenth-century Abolitionists. Executed in tempera, the images are remarkable in their simplicity, vivid color, boldly expressive style, and use of the series format to convey narrative content. (right: Harriet Tubman series No. 4, 1939-40, Casein tempera on gessoed hardboard, Hampton University Art Museum, Hampton, Virginia)

Ellen Harkins Wheat, author of the catalog Jacob Lawrence: The Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Series of 1938-40, describes the artist's work in this way. "At times powerfully exquisite, at other times raw, even awkward, their rough magic and expressive strength speak to us through time of the often-neglected episodes of black American history and the black experience." In Lawrence's own words: "If at times my productions do not express the conventionally beautiful, there is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man's continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being." (left: Frederick Douglass series No. 21, 1938-39, Casein tempera on gessoed hardboard, Hampton University Art Museum, Hampton, Virginia)

The images include captions written by the artist, who thoroughly researched the two legendary figures before beginning work on the series.

Including these series, Lawrence created five historical sequences overall; the other three are Toussaint L'Ouverture, 1937-38; The Migration of the Negro, 1940-41; and John Brown, 1941. Throughout his career, Lawrence continued to focus on themes of human strife and determination. Although the Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman series were executed early in Lawrence's artistic development, the images remained dear to the artist throughout his lifetime and embody some of his strongest work. (right: Frederick Douglass series No. 13, 1938-39, Casein tempera on gessoed hardboard, Hampton University Art Museum, Hampton, Virginia)

The exhibition is organized by the Hampton University Art Museum, the institution that owns the works. A catalog will be available for purchase in the museum shop.

See a related article: Jacob Lawrence--Aesop's Fables (4/11/99)

Please Note: RLM does not endorse sites behind external links. We offer them for your additional research; external links were chosen on the basis of being the most informative online source at the time of our search.

Read more about the Speed Art Museum in Resource Library Magazine

Be sure to visit more of Resource Library Magazine with museum exhibition news, stories on American art, calendars, and more. Here are links to selected sections of the magazine:

• Feature articles indexed by date of publication, from 1997 to the present
• Articles concerning art museums, indexed by institution name in alphabetical order
• Articles concerning non-profit art organizations other than museums, indexed by name of organization in alphabetical order
• Feature articles indexed by subject and media - over three dozen mini-magazines
• Sources of articles indexed by state within the United States
• Calendar of art museum exhibitions, current and future years
• Milestones, including appointments, new buildings, etc.
• Appraisals, authentication, conservation and artist identification for original art and reproductions
• Columnists: Ann Avery Andres, Sarah Beserra, Roger Dunbier and Ann Erskine
• Art sellers' showcase and sponsorships
• Books, magazines, videos and more
• Cameos of historic American art collections
• Distinguished artists, including an alphabetical index of over 2,000 deceased American artists
• Magazine table of contents
• User agreement
• Editorial policies
• Advertising and sponsorship options

Copyright 1996-2000 Traditional Fine Art Online, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Links to to other TFAOI.COM divisions.