19th Anniversary

2019 Antiques & Fine Art 129 The exhibition includes examples of the artist’s complete print portfolios that depict a narrative over multiple scenes, often with accompanying text. The Legend of John Brown recounts the story of the American abolitionist in twenty-two prints; Toussaint L’Ouverture illustrates the story of the former slave who led the Haitian Revolution in a series of fifteen scenes. Elsewhere, as in Forward Together (Fig. 11), related to his earlier etching Forest Creatures (Fig 12), Lawrence compresses narrative into a single scene. Originally created as the painting Through Forest, Through Rivers, Up Mountains (in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection, Washington, D.C.), one of many illustrations for the 1967 children’s book Harriet and the Promised Land , it portrays American hero Harriet Tubman. As a major “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, Tubman helped hundreds of fugitive slaves escape north to freedom. In the print, she stands in a bright red cloak, her arms extended as though directing an orchestra. Her left hand reaches for the emerging figures, the ends of her outstretched fingers curled as though pulling them toward her. She points to the horizon with her right arm, ushering the runaways in the direction of the North Star. History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence encourages visitors to engage with the narrative quality of the artist’s work, and to appreciate the dynamic interconnections between the themes and stories he portrayed. Just as the relationship between his painting and printmaking were intertwined throughout his career, so too were his portrayals of the past and present, creating compelling narratives with which we continue to engage.  History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence, curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, will be on view at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Calif., from January 27, 2019, through April 7, 2019. The exhibition will travel to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama (August 3– October 27, 2019), and the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami, Florida (March 5–June 7, 2020). For more information, visit crockerart.org or call (916) 808-7000. This exhibition is organized by the SCAD Museum of Art and is made possible with support from the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation. The Complete Jacob Lawrence boxed set includes Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence and Jacob Lawrence: Paintings, Drawings, and Murals (1935–1999) , edited by Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois (University of Washington Press, 2000). For more information, contact the Crocker Art Museum Store, (916) 808-5531. Christie Hajela is assistant curator at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California. 1. Peter T. Nesbett, “Introduction: Jacob Lawrence: From Paintings to Prints,” in Jacob Lawrence: The Complete Prints (1963–2000), A Catalogue Raisonné, 2nd ed. (Seattle: Francis Seders Gallery Ltd., 2001), 9. 2. Jacob Lawrence, in a lecture at Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, August 12, 1993. Quoted in Jacob Lawrence: The Complete Prints (1963–2000), A Catalogue Raisonné, 2nd. ed. (Seattle: Francis Seders Gallery Ltd., 2001), 41. Fig. 12: Jacob Lawrence (1917– 2000), Forest Creatures, 1969. Etching and drypoint on wove paper, 18¾ x 22¼ inches. © 2018 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.