Nine out of the fifteen prints on the life and career of Haitian Revolution leader Toussaint L’Ouverture by African American artist Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) will be on display through August 23rd at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. The series is “so dynamically colorful and graphically powerful” that it will be the subject of its own exhibit this coming fall at the Dallas Museum of Art. At the Carter, the nine prints are “the opening act,” as the Dallas Museum will be bringing the remaining pieces from other museums and collections for their own exhibit. Lawrence followed this impressive series with a series of paintings of the lives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, as well as a series of pieces about the abolitionist John Brown.
The prints are part of a larger exhibit, “The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper.” The Carters have amassed a truly astonishing trove of more than 300 paintings, sculptures and works on paper in just 20 years. Only the works on paper are on display at the Amon Carter Museum.
For more on the exhibit go to http://www.star-telegram.com/living/story/1415740.html
Of interest — You can see a clip of Toussaint’s last moments in prison from the award-winning new short film “The Last Days of Toussaint L’Ouverture” at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2468184/ This film is the basis for a new feature (not with Danny Glover) that is in development.
By: twf on December 10, 2009
at 2:39 pm