Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) depicted the struggle and resistance of African Americans in vivid paintings. In his monumental The Migration Series, comprising no fewer than 60 canvases, he recounts the mass migration of Black Americans to the northern United States. This exhibition is his first major retrospective in Europe.

Lawrence developed his art and painting style during the latter part of the Harlem Renaissance and is one of the most influential African-American painters of the 20th century. The paintings centred around Harriet Tubman, who helped many enslaved people escape via the Underground Railroad networks, are among his most important works. His series of paintings ‘The Great Migration’ is partly on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Phillips Collection in Washington, but now also at Kunsthal KAdE. In colourful, poignant and expressive paintings, he depicts the migration of the Black population from the South of the United States to the North. With his narrative oeuvre, he puts African-American history centre stage.

Cover image: Jacob Lawrence, Brownstones, 1958. Egg tempera on hardboard, 80 x 94.6 cm.