A Daily Dose of Art: Contemplation, from "The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture" by Jacob Lawrence
Today I took some time to look at art by Jacob Lawrence on the Seattle Art Museum’s website. Lawrence is one of my favorite visual artists, and I really enjoy sitting with a single work of his for 5-10 minutes.
Contemplation is a silkscreen print from his series “The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture.”
Contemplation from “The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture” by Jacob Lawrence
Here’s some information about this series from the Seattle Museum of Art:
“The fifteen silkscreen prints that comprise Lawrence’s The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture celebrate the Haitian revolutionary strategist and statesman (1743–1803) who liberated his country from colonial rule to establish the first independent Black republic. Rendered in the compressed space and layered forms of Lawrence’s cubism-inflected modernism, the images register key moments from Toussaint’s biography—his childhood in slavery, his fortitude as a leader, his victory and betrayal, and his enduring legacy—as an anthology of revolutionary valor designed to resonate with contemporary struggles. The prints are based on the first of Lawrence’s renowned narrative painting cycles, The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture. Began in 1936, when he was not yet twenty years old, this series reflects the impact of his mentors, the artist-activists Augusta Savage and Henry Bannard, as well as the extensive source material he had consulted at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. Armed with knowledge and alert to the need for change, he was ready to center individuals of African descent in the fight for liberty and justice in the Americas. - Seattle Art Museum
What do you think? Please share your thoughts on this art/topic or a glimpse into one of your recent doses of art in the comments below.