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Gallery Text

As a young member of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project in the late 1930s, Jacob Lawrence painted scenes of life in Harlem and produced significant narrative series depicting the actions of prominent figures in African American history. Continuing his earlier mode of exploration, the Struggle series depicts critical moments in the nation’s development by synthesizing historical documentation and metaphorical interpretation. In this work, one of thirty panels, Lawrence references the clash over states’ rights and personal freedoms. In the context of the resurgent civil rights movement of the 1950s, his Struggle series may be seen as a parallel effort to integrate American history and to reaffirm the historical foundation for the rights of all Americans.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.23
People
Jacob Lawrence, American (Atlantic City, NJ 1917 - 2000 Seattle, WA)
Title
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility... --17 September 1787
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Struggle...From The History of the American People
Former Title: No. 15: Creation
Alternate Title: Creation
Alternate Title: Creation (Constitutional Convention)
Alternate Title: We the People
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1955
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/226482

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1320, Modern and Contemporary Art, Social Realism
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Egg tempera over graphite underdrawing on gessoed hardboard
Dimensions
panel: 30.3 × 40.5 × 0.5 cm (11 15/16 × 15 15/16 × 3/16 in.)
framed: 45.7 × 55.9 × 3.8 cm (18 × 22 × 1 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l.: Jacob Lawrence 55
  • inscription: verso, upper left, graphite: 15
  • label: back of frame: Midtown Payson Galleries Inc., 11870 SE, Dixie Hwy, Hobe Sound, Fla 33455
  • label: back of frame: no. 131 "Struggle" series (from the History of the American People) no. 15; 1955-66; lent by Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Sass
  • inscription: verso, center: CREATION
  • label: back of frame: Whitney; no. 131; J. Lawrence exhibition
  • label: back of frame: Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Sass; 31 Evergreen; No. Caldwell, NJ
  • label: back of frame: Midtown Payson Galleries; 745 Fifth Avenue; New York, New York 10141; 212-758-1900; Acc: JLW00020+ []
  • label: back of frame: Terry Dintenfass Inc.; $1300
  • label: back of frame: "This is one of 2 entries I am submitting to the Jury" [box is checked for watercolor]
  • label: back of frame: xerox from unknown source

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Sass. [Midtown Payson Galleries, New York, New York].
[G. W. Einstein Company, Inc., New York, New York], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.


Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund, Richard Norton Fund, Henry George Berg Bequest Fund, Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg, and Alpheus Hyatt Fund
Copyright
© The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.23
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This is one of 30 paintings from Jacob Lawrence's Struggle Series.

Publication History

  • Jacob Lawrence, "American Struggle: Three Paintings", Vogue (July 1957), vol. 130, pp. 66-67
  • Charles Alan, Jacob Lawrence, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1975)
  • Leslie King-Hammond and John Whitney Payson, Jacob Lawrence, an Overview: Paintings from 1936-1994, exh. cat., Midtown Payson Galleries (New York, NY, 1995), reproduced in color on cover
  • Cate McQuaid, "Remembering Jacob Lawrence, an African-American Pioneer", The Boston Globe (Boston, MA, June 18, 2000), repr. in color, Arts section
  • James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), p. 81, ill. (b/w)
  • Austen Barron Bailly and Elizabeth Hutton Turner, Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA, 2019), pp. 37, 94-95, 165, 172, panel 15, ill. (color)
  • "The Struggle is joined at the Peabody Essex", The Magazine Antiques (2020), p. 26-28, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • Jacob Lawrence: Struggle ...From the History of the American People, The Alan Gallery, New York, 12/28/1956 - 01/19/1957
  • Jacob Lawrence: Struggle ...From the History of the American People, The Alan Gallery, New York, 05/05/1958 - 05/14/1958
  • Jacob Lawrence: Retrospective Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 01/01/1974 - 03/01/1974; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 03/01/1974 - 05/01/1974; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, 05/01/1974 - 07/01/1974; Lauren Tucker, Seattle, 07/01/1974 - 09/01/1974; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 09/01/1974 - 11/01/1974; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, 11/01/1974 - 01/01/1975
  • Jacob Lawrence - An Overview: Paintings 1936-1994, Midtown Payson Galleries, New York, 01/12/1995 - 02/25/1995
  • 32Q: 1320 Social Realism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 12/10/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/01/2050
  • Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, Peabody Essex Museum, 01/18/2020 - 08/09/2020; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 08/29/2020 - 11/01/2020; Birmingham Museum of Art, 11/20/2020 - 02/07/2021

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu