Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints is a monographic exhibition featuring works by one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition features three series of silkscreen prints created between 1972 and 2000: Genesis, a vivid retelling of the biblical creation story, drawing connections between heritage, spiritual resilience, and rebirth; Toussaint L’Ouverture, a visual biography of the Haitian revolutionary who led the first successful slave uprising in the Western Hemisphere; and Hiroshima, a haunting reflection on the devastation of war and the global need for peace.
Since his first published print in 1963, Jacob Lawrence has produced a body of prints that is both highly dramatic and intensely personal. In his graphic work, as in his paintings, Lawrence has turned to the lessons of history and to his own experience. From depictions of civil rights confrontations to scenes of daily life, the works present a vision of a common struggle toward unity and equality, a universal struggle deeply seated in the depths of the human consciousness.
Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints is a nationally traveling exhibition organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles and curated by Peter Nesbett, editor of Jacob Lawrence, The Complete Prints (1963-2000), The Catalogue Raisonné and founding director of the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation. The majority of the works in the exhibition come from the collections of Alitash Kebede, who was a friend and associate of Lawrence, and Dr. and Mrs. Leon Banks.
