Jacob Lawrence The Opener from The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture 1997 Signed Screenprint Editon of 125

Artist: Jacob Lawrence
Title: "The Opener" (from The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture)
Medium: Screenprint in Colors on Rising Paper
Sheet Size: 21.875" x 32"
Year: 1997
Inscription: Signed front lower right
Edition: W.P. 1/7 (aside from an edition of 125)
Documentation: Includes Gallery Certificate of Authenticity

Jacob Lawrence's "The Opener", (from The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture) exemplifies the artist's enduring engagement with historical narrative and his distinctive modernist visual language. Executed in 1997, the print belongs to a series depicting the life and leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the prominent figure of the Haitian Revolution. Lawrence's composition is defined by flat, vivid color planes, simplified figures, and rhythmic forms, which together convey both movement and emotional resonance while articulating a complex historical moment.

This impression is a workshop proof, W.P. 1/7, aside from the edition of 125. It is signed, titled, dated, and editioned in pencil along the lower edge. The print was produced by the Lou Stovall Workshop, Inc., in Washington, D.C., and bears the workshop's blindstamp in the lower left. Published by the Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, the print is accompanied by a gallery certificate of authenticity and is documented in the literature (Nesbett, L97-5).

"The Opener" reflects Lawrence's mature approach to color, form, and narrative structure, demonstrating how his abstracted, expressive style serves to communicate historical events with clarity, dignity, and visual impact. The work situates Lawrence within the broader trajectory of twentieth-century African American art and modernist printmaking.

About Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence occupies a pivotal place in the development of American modernism, recognized for his distinctive approach to narrative painting and his sustained emphasis on African American history. Born in 1917, Lawrence emerged from the cultural dynamism of the Harlem Renaissance to become one of the most widely celebrated Black artists of the twentieth century. His work, grounded in research and shaped by lived experience, integrates modernist abstraction with documentary precision, creating a visual chronicle of resilience, migration, and community.

Lawrence's early life in Harlem exposed him to a rich network of artists, educators, and intellectuals. He trained at the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Community Art Center under the mentorship of Charles Alston and Augusta Savage, both of whom encouraged his interest in socially engaged art. These institutions, supported by the Works Progress Administration, provided Lawrence with access to materials, instruction, and a collaborative environment that profoundly informed his developing artistic identity. By the late 1930s, he had begun to construct multi-panel narrative cycles, a format that would become central to his practice.

In 1941 Lawrence completed The Migration Series, a masterwork that narrates the movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North during the early twentieth century. The project brought him national acclaim and cemented his position within the history of African American art and American modernist painting. Laurence used bold, simplified forms and a restricted, carefully calibrated palette to heighten the emotional and historical intensity of the narrative. The series' acquisition by both the Museum of Modern Art and the Phillips Collection underscored its importance and helped introduce a wider public to Lawrence's vision.

Over the following decades, Lawrence created additional series devoted to historical subjects including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Toussaint Louverture, along with explorations of labor, struggle, and civic life. His narrative cycles were complemented by numerous paintings and prints that addressed contemporary themes, demonstrating his ongoing engagement with issues of identity, justice, and social change. Lawrence's work across mediums reflects his belief in the power of visual art to inform, educate, and preserve cultural memory.

An influential educator as well as an artist, Lawrence taught at several institutions before joining the University of Washington faculty in 1971, where he remained until retirement. His pedagogical contributions, combined with his prolific studio practice, established him as a foundational figure whose work shaped both modern art and African American cultural history.

Today, Jacob Lawrence's paintings are housed in major museums worldwide and continue to be central to discussions of narrative painting, African American modernism, and the representation of historical experience within the visual arts. His legacy endures as a testament to art's ability to give form to collective memory and social transformation.