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Jacob Lawrence

This major exhibition is the first to feature the work of Jacob Lawrence in a New York gallery for many years. The exhibition will focus on Lawrence's recent series of paintings with the ongoing theme of Builders. Lawrence's 1982 Hiroshima Series will also be included, along with drawings, prints and a selection of early works.

In 1941, Jacob Lawrence at the age of twenty-four, rose to national prominence and after five decades, he remains one of the nation's preeminent African-American artists. His paintings are characterized by fluidly contoured shapes, patterns of intense color and boldly defined, expressive forms. The immediate visual impact of his work, and the potency of his social and historical message, have been responsible for his great success over the years. Lawrence's ability to address the universal concerns of humanity has remained constant throughout his career, whether he is portraying the vibrant street life of 1930s Harlem, the quiet dignity of carpenters and cabinetmakers at work, or episodes from African-American history, powerfully displayed in the series format which Lawrence helped pioneer.

Recent years have seen a number of major travelling exhibitions of Lawrence's work, including: Jacob Lawrence, American Painter (1986-87), The Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman Series of 1938-40 (1991-94), which included the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art among its venues, and Jacob Lawrence: An American Master (1992-93).

This exhibition runs concurrently with The Migration Series, 1941 at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. The Migration Series will travel to eight museums across the country in the next several years, including New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1995.

Transcription Notes:
Changed "exhibi-tion" to "exhibition" since transcription instructions say to type these wrapped, hyphenated words as single words. Removed brackets related to font styling (instructions say not to indicate font styling).