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by silvia in category exhibitions | 2010/01/28 | (0) Comments
From: 2010/01/15 To: 2010/05/09
in Chapel Hill. United States |
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 Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000) - one of the twentieth century's most renowned African American painters - originally created The Legend of John Brown in 1941 as a series of twenty-two gouache paintings illustrating the life of the famous and controversial nineteenth-century abolitionist. By 1977, the original paintings were in such fragile condition they could not be displayed, and the Detroit Institute of Arts commissioned Lawrence to recreate the series as a portfolio of silkscreen prints. The result was a limited edition portfolio of twenty-two hand-screened prints, one of which was acquired by the Ackland in 2005. The works were printed and published with a poem, John Brown, by Robert Hayden, which was commissioned specifically for the project. This exhibition is the Ackland's first presentation of the series, and coincides with the 150th anniversary of Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.
Lawrence, who by the age of thirty was already considered by many to be the foremost African American artist in the US, was renowned for his figurative paintings about the lives of significant African Americans, frequently depicting important historical epochs. Though John Brown had been a popular topic for many painters, The Legend of John Brown was the first to explore the topic from an African American perspective and is the only Lawrence series in which the protagonist is a white man.
In The Legend of John Brown, almost every frame focuses on the figure of the gaunt John Brown, depicted in large flat forms, bold diagonals, pure colors, and with an extreme reduction of detail. The cubist style, narrative format, and serial imagery seen in the series is indicative of much of Lawrence's work.
Exhibition-related materials and programs will draw on the expertise of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members in Art, Afro-American Studies, American Studies, History, and other departments to investigate Lawrence's series.
Photo: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917 - 2000: To the people he found worthy of trust, he communicated his plans., no. 22 from The Legend of John Brown, 1977; color screenprint. Ackland Art Museum, Ackland Fund. (c) 2009 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
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