Research Catalog

Jacob Lawrence : the migration series

Title: Jacob Lawrence : the migration series / Leah Dickerman and Elsa Smithgall ; with contributions by Elizabeth Alexander [and eleven others].
Author: Dickerman, Leah, 1964-
Publication: New York : The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	Sc+ G 15-21	Schomburg Center - Research & Reference
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JQG 15-455	Schwarzman Building - Art & Architecture Room 300

Details

Additional Authors

Description

191 pages : illustrations (chiefly col.), ports.; 32 cm

Summary

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.

Subjects

Note

Accompanies exhibitions and programming initiatives related to Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series at the Museum of Modern Art in 2015 and at The Phillips Collection in 2016.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

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

Call Number

JQG 15-455

ISBN

9780870709647
087070964X

LCCN

2014957848

OCLC

899703661

Author

Dickerman, Leah, 1964- author, curator.

Title

Jacob Lawrence : the migration series / Leah Dickerman and Elsa Smithgall ; with contributions by Elizabeth Alexander [and eleven others].

Publisher

New York : The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Local Note

Schomburg copy with dust jacket.

Added Author

Smithgall, Elsa, author, curator.

Alexander, Elizabeth, 1962-

Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000. Works. Selections.

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), host institution.

Phillips Collection, host institution.

Research Call Number

JQG 15-455

Sc+ G 15-21

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