Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture

Start date: Sunday, December 6, 2009
Event is ongoing: Until Sunday, May 23, 2010

Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture will celebrate the artistry of Jacob Lawrence, an important American painter and print maker. Jacob Lawrence (1918-2000) created 15 dramatic and colorful silk-screen prints based on a series of 41 paintings entitled The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture that he completed in 1938. This exhibition will present all fifteen silk-screen prints from the Curtis Ransom Collection of African American Art, alongside the Dallas Museum of Art’s painting The Visitors, and a related portrait photograph by Arnold Newman of the artist from the DMA’s collections.

Toussaint L’Ouverture was a leader in the Haitian revolution. Born a slave, he became commander in chief of the revolutionary army in 1800. In 1804, Haiti became the first black Western republic. L’Ouverture was instrumental in drafting independent Haiti’s first democratic constitution. Through these powerful works about L’Ouverture and the Haitian revolution, Lawrence presents his vision of humanity’s struggle toward unity and equality.

The museum is closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. On Late Night Fridays (third Friday of the month, excluding December), the museum is open until midnight.