Jacob Lawrence
Subtitle: the Migration series
By: Leah Dickerman and Elsa Smithgall ; with contributions by Elizabeth Alexander [and 11 others]
Contributors: Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000, artist; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000; Smithgall, Elsa, author; Alexander, Elizabeth, 1962-; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.); Phillips Collection
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 191
ISBN-13: 9780870709647
Subjects: African Americans in art; Exhibitions; Rural-urban migration in art
Other titles: One-way ticket, Jacob Lawrence's Migration series and other works.; People on the move, beauty and struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration series.
Description: In 1941, Jacob Lawrence, then just 23 years old, completed a series of 60 small tempera paintings with text captions about the Great Migration, the mass movement of black Americans from the rural South to the urban North that began in 1915-16. Within months of its making, the Migration Series was divided between The Museum of Modern Art (even-numbered panels) and the Phillips Memorial Gallery (odd-numbered panels). The work has since become a landmark in the history of African American art, a monument in the collections of both institutions and a crucial example of the way in which history painting was radically reimagined in the modern era. In 2015 and 2016, the panels will be reunited in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art and at The Phillips Collection. This catalogue grounds Lawrence's Migration Series in the cultural and political debates that shaped the young artist's work and highlights its continued resonance for artists and writers today. An essay by Leah Dickerman situates the series within contemporary discussions about black history and an artist's social responsibilities in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Elsa Smithgall traces the acquisition and exhibition history of the Migration Series. Short commentaries on each panel explore Lawrence's career and technique, and the social history of the Migration. The catalogue also debuts ten poems commissioned from acclaimed poets that respond to the Migration Series. Elizabeth Alexander, honored as the poet at President Obama's first inauguration, introduces the section.
Notes: Accompanies exhibitions and programming initiatives related to Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 3-September 7, 2015 ([exhibition titled "One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Works"]), and at The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., September 10, 2016-January 17, 2017 (exhibition titled "People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series").

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Fighting blues / Leah Dickerman; title: One series, two places / Elsa Smithgall; title: The migration series, panels 1-60 / with notes by Jodi Roberts; title: The migration series poetry suite / introduction by Elizabeth Alexander; title: Poems / Yusef Komunyakaa ; Crystal Williams ; Nikky Finney ; Terrance Hayes ; Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon ; Tyehimba Jess ; Rita Dove ; Natasha Trethewey ; Patricia Spears Jones ; Kevin Young.