Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle at The Met (August 29th - November 1st, 2020)
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was one of the first nationally recognized African American artists, and personally one of my favorite artists from any period in history. I cannot remember feeling more excited for an exhibition: this is the first time in more than 50 years that Lawrence’s multi-paneled work has been brought together.
The 30 panels featured at The Met cover historical moments from 1775-1817. Lawrence said that his intent was to show “The struggles of a people to create a nation and their attempt to build a democracy.”
What captivated me as I walked through the exhibit, at a snail’s pace--and believe me, you will spend long periods of time in front of each painting--was not only how drawn into the composition of the paintings with their colors and cubist shapes I was, but how I felt drawn into the stories, the narratives, the voices of the figures he paints.
Jacob Lawrence, Panel 27. . . . for freedom we want and will have, for we have served this cruel land long enuff . . . —A Georgia Slave, 1810, (1956). From Struggle Series, 1954–56. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
In Panel 27 the voice of Captain James, a slave who planned a revolt in 1810, resonates as strongly as the brutal image. The quote is taken directly from a letter James wrote about his fight for freedom. For me, this painting is one of the most emotionally gripping pieces I have ever encountered.
These 12x16 inch paintings are small but loom large and loud as Lawrence depicts actual human experiences with quotes from historical documents and first-person accounts, which Lawrence had found through his extensive research at the New York Public Library in Harlem. It says so much about his method, the time he spent reading about the men who would eventually become the subjects of his paintings. You feel their heartbeats and their pain in Lawrence’s works.
Jacob Lawrence, Massacre in Boston, Panel 2, 1955, from “Struggle: From the History of the American People.”
In Panel 2, Lawrence depicts the famous altercation on Boston Commons in Boston between British soldiers and angry colonists reeling from England’s subjugations. We have all learned about this tragic scene in history class when the British soldiers opened fire and killed 5 Americans. The tragic figure on his knees in the forefront of this painting is one I had never heard of: Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Wampanoag descent, an escaped slave who joined the patriots’ army. Attucks became the first martyr of the American Revolution.
For me, Lawrence’s painting created an entirely new dimension to America’s struggle for independence--he made it personal, he turns the focus onto individuals, he gave them voices so we could not only see but hear their struggle.
We crossed the River at McKonkey's Ferry 9 miles above Trenton ... the night was excessively severe ... which the men bore without the least murmur...-Tench Tilghman, 27 December 1776/Struggle Series - No. 10: Washington Crossing the Delaware
In this painting Lawrence gives the famous painting by Emanuel Leutze a completely different perspective: General Washington is no where to be seen here, instead Lawrence paints the solders, huddled together on rowboats, cold and fear-stricken, as they cross the river that fateful night in 1776.
In his planning for his Struggle series, Lawrence said that he was “looking for any episode that suggests a symbol of struggle.” And as he studied deepers into the beginnings of our nation he found that “the part the Negro has played in all these events has been greatly overlooked. I intend to bring it out.”
