The works of highly influential 20th-century artists Jacob Lawrence and Elizabeth Catlett come together in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Showcasing Lawrence’s Migration Series and Catlett’s The Black Woman series for the first time ever at MoMA, the exhibition further highlights the importance of the African American perspective within both the 20th century and modern day art world.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), Among one of the last groups to leave the South was the Negro professional who was forced to follow his clientele to make a living, 1940-41. Caseintempera on hardboard, 12 x 18 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy, 1942. © 2023 Jacob Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Currently ongoing, the show was curated by Cara Manes, MoMA’s associate curator of painting and sculpture and Lydia Mullin, curatorial assistant of painting and sculpture.
“The gallery revolves around the idea of narrative and storytelling and provides new context for Lawrence’s Migration Series, which finds new context on the museum’s fifth floor nearby other artwork from the 1930s and ’40s,” note Manes and Mullin. They reference Lawrence having grown up in Harlem as a child of migrants, where, at a young age, he began creating artwork that addressed Black histories. A peer of Lawrence’s, Catlett attended the premiere of the Migration Series in the early 1940s and was inspired to eventually created her The Black Woman series, chronicling “the oppression and resilience of subjects such as field laborers, domestic workers, historic abolitionists, and civil rights activists,” according to MoMA.
Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), I Am The Black Woman from the series The Black Woman, 1946, printed 1989. Linoleum cut, sheet: 10 x 8 in. Publisher and printer: Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York. Edition: 20 (second printing). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Erin and Peter Hess Friedland, and Modern Women’s Fund, 2021. © 2023 Elizabeth Catlett / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000, The migration gained in momentum, 1940-41. Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy, 1942. © 2023 Jacob Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
“The overarching connection between the two artists’ work is the way in which they used serial narratives (in both imagery and captions) to tell their stories,” Manes and Mullin continue. “Lawrence and Catlett had other more biographical links, too…Both artists were recipients of grants from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. Lawrence received the grant in 1940, and it funded his move into a larger studio space in Harlem, which allowed him to complete the Migration Series. Rosenwald’s oldest daughter, Adele, actually provided the funds for MoMA to purchase half of the Migration Series in 1942. Catlett received her own grant from the Rosenwald Fund in 1945 to produce a body of work focusing on Black women. The year after receiving the grant, Catlett moved to Mexico City, where she produced the prints that now make up The Black Woman series.”
Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), There are Bars Between Me and the Rest of the Land from theseries The Black Woman, 1946, printed 1989. Linoleum cut, sheet: 77⁄8 x 10 in. Publisher and printer: Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York. Edition: 20 (second printing). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Erin and Peter Hess Friedland, and Modern Women’s Fund, 2021. © 2023 Elizabeth Catlett / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
While the exhibition presentation focuses primarily on these two series, visitors will also be able to view an additional Lawrence drawing made the year after he completed The Migration Series, in addition to later prints and sculpture by Catlett that demonstrate how the artist continuously reimagined her subjects in new ways.
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