
• photo story by Paul Slocumb •
Already a graduate of New York’s American Artist School, the 20-year-old Jacob Lawrence began an ambitious series of tempera panels in 1937 designed to tell the story of the Haitian Revolution. Depicting the struggle to overcome social injustice and create a new nation, Lawrence used jagged forms of bold color to create a narrative focused on the life and actions of revolutionary leader, and former slave, Toussaint L’Ouverture. Lawrence returned to these panels later in life, refining the 41 works into the fifteen serigraph prints currently on display in the El Paso Museum of Art’s Peter and Margaret de Wetter Gallery. The series provides patrons a view of Lawrence’s determined address of racial inequality.
Jacob Lawrence’s “Toussaint L’Ouverture” Series: The Haitian Revolution, featuring works from the Collection of Harriet and Harmon Kelley in San Antonio, can be experienced for free through February 27.
For more information, including Museum hours, click HERE to visit EPMA online.