JACOB LAWRENCE, “Struggle Series, Panel 04 – I Alarmed Almost Every House Till I Got To Lexington. — Paul Revere (Night Rider),” 1954 (eitempera on hardboard, 30.5 x 40.6 cm). | A.J. Kollar Fine Paintings, LLC; Seattle, Washington. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE of Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) in Europe is currently on view in The Netherlands. “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist” at Kunsthal KAdE reflects Lawrence’s entire career across more than six decades, beginning in the 1930s.
One of the most important American artists of the 20th century, Lawrence is best known for depictions of modern African American life. His works include deeply researched series documenting Black history and narrative scenes of Harlem centering its residents. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity for European audiences to consider the complex experiences of Black people in America methodically documented in detail by Lawrence. The artist’s incredible visual storytelling is complemented by his exacting approach to form, shape, and color.
“Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist” features 70 paintings, 25 drawings, and 75 prints, alongside a selection of photographs and archival materials from the artist’s estate. Some of Lawrence’s best known works are on view, including examples from his series on Migration, Builders, Nigeria, World War II, Book of Genesis, abolitionists Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown, and Haitian freedom fighter Toussaint L’Ouverture, along with his Struggle series exploring the complex challenges of America’s founding years (1775-1817), and other works.
The expansive presentation of key series and rarely seen works brings together loans from an assortment of public and private holdings, including The Phillips Collection, Smithsonian, Clark Atlanta University, Stanford University, Harvard Art Museums, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, A.J. Kollar Fine Paintings, and the collection of Walter O. and Linda J. Evans. Lawrence also inspired new works by contemporary artists Barbara Earl Thomas (four paper cuts with hand-printed coloring) and Nina Chanel Abney (installation), which are also on view at the museum. CT
“Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist” is on view at Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, from Sept. 27, 2025-Jan. 4, 2026
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Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. Shown, “The March,” From the series The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “General Toussaint (The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture),” 1986 (silkscreen print, 81.6 x 55.9 cm). | Courtesy Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, Migration Series Panel 1, During World War I there was a great migration north by southern African Americans, 1940–41 (casein tempera on hardboard, 30.48 x 45.72 cm). | The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Migration Series Panel 45, The migrants arrived in Pittsburgh, one of the great industrial centres of the North,” 1940–41 (Casein tempera on hardboard, 30.48 x 45.72 cm). | The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Ices I,” 1960 (tempera on hardboard, 61 x 76.2 cm). | Walter O. and Linda J. Evans Collection, Savannah, Ga. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “The Long Stretch,” 1949 (tempera on hardboard, 50.8 x 91 cm). | Bill and Holly Marklyn Collection, Seattle, Washington. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. Shown, second from right, “Jesse Jackson,” 1970 (poster paint on paper, 60.3 x 43.2 cm). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Gift of Time magazine (The portrait was featured on the April 6, 1970, cover of Time magazine a special issue called “Black America 1970.”). | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Vaudeville,” 1951 (egg tempera on hardboard with pencil, 75.9 x 50.7 cm). | Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. Shown, JACOB LAWRENCE, “Vaudeville,” 1951. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Ventriloquist,’ 1952 (Tempera on hardboard, 50.5 x 61 cm). | Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Builders No. 3,” 1973 (Tempera gouache on paper, 73 x 50.6 cm). | Cantor Art Centre, Stanford University. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Peter Cox, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Cabinet Maker,” 1957 (casein tempera on paper, 77.5 x 57.2 cm). | Hirshhorn Museum of American Art, Washington D.C. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Wounded Man,” 1968 (gouache on paper, 74.9 x 55.9 cm). | Collection of Walter O. and Linda J. Evans, Savannah, Ga. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “The Journey,” 1965 (tempera and gouache on paper, 55.2 x 75 cm). | Bill and Holly Marklyn Collection, Seattle, Washington. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Blink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “A Plan To Escape (Harriet and the Promised Land),” 1967 (guache on paper, 36.8 x 33 cm). | Bill and Holly Marklyn Collection, Seattle, Washington. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Frederick Douglass,” 1999 (Screen print, 66 x 45.7 cm). | Walter O. and Linda J. Evans Collection, Savannah, Ga. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Interior,” 1937 (tempera on paper, 58.4 x 58.4 cm). | Bill and Holly Marklyn Collection, Seattle, Washington. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Birgit Bijl, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Northbound,” 1962 (tempera on hardboard, 61 x 101.6 cm). | Private collection. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Painting the Bilges,” 1944 (gouache on paper, 78.4 x 57.5 cm). | Hirshhorn Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Mike Bink, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
Installation view of “Jacob Lawrence: African American Modernist,” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2025. | Photo: Birgit Bijl, Courtesy Kunsthal KAdE
JACOB LAWRENCE< "Seamstress," 1954 (tempera on panel, 22.8 x 30.5 cm). | The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Ga. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Rain,” 1938 (tempera on hardboard, 71.4 x 51 cm). | Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
JACOB LAWRENCE, “Brownstones,” (egg tempera on hardboard, 80 x 94.6 cm). | Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, WC45. © Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation/ c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2025
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BOOKSHELF
A new comprehensive catalog accompanies the exhibition and is available at the KAdEShop or online via Ideabooks. The exhibition catalogs “Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club” and “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle” were published in recent years. “Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series” coincided with “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series,” the Museum of Modern Art exhibition inspired by Lawrence’s seminal series. Also consider, “Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence,” “Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence” and the complete Jacob Lawrence catalog raisonne, published in 2000. “Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, A Young Artist in Harlem,” is a great introduction to Lawrence for children.
