Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle series is in Birmingham
@bhammuseum . This is the only venue in the South where it will be seen and we made a pilgrimage to see it this weekend. It has been ten years since I first saw a panel from Jacob Lawrence's Struggle series. I'll never forget the moment. I was then a curator
@lacma seeking potential acquisitions for the American art collection. Standing in a back room of
@dcmooregallery in New York, I was shown panel 25, the Battle of New Orleans. I'm from New Orleans so the subject caught my attention. But it was the imagery that was so striking. I had never seen any kind of history painting like this: small, intense, bloody, sharply constructed, and truly moving, keenly felt. From that moment, I was hooked. I learned there that this painting was part of a larger series Lawrence made in 1954-56, and that these thirty paintings had been dispersed widely, mostly into private collections. I wanted to see more and couldn't believe they hadn't been shown in a museum as had Lawrence's celebrated Migration Series, among other famous works he's known for. I remember saying out loud, this should be an exhibition, these works need to be reunited. I harbored this idea for years, bringing it with me to
@peabodyessex where it led me to propose the exhibition and publication that became the collective and collaborative endeavor that is Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle. The dream has come true to bring the Struggle series to Alabama where so many of the epic struggles for civil rights that shaped Lawrence’s art unfolded. Thank you to the vast community of people across the country who have made this happen especially #elizabethhuttonturner #bethturner #harveyross
@hjenksilbs @lydslovesart_ @grahamboettcher @kate_crawf @hallierr ❤️🤍💙#americanstruggle #strugglebma #laluchanorteamericana
