Artist: Jacob Lawrence
Title: Revolt on the Amistad
Medium: Screen-print in Colors on Bainbridge Paper
Edition: Edition 101/120
Publisher: Co-published by Aetna Life Insurance Company and Spradling-Ames, Key West, Florida
Printer: Lou Stovall Workshop Inc, Washington DC
Size: 40-1/8" x 32-1/8"
Year: 1989
Inscription: Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in pencil along lower edge
Documentation: Includes Gallery Certificate of Authenticity
Jacob Lawrence's "Revolt on the Amistad" (1989) stands among the artist's most powerful visual narratives, encapsulating his lifelong engagement with themes of freedom, resistance, and the collective struggle for justice. Executed as a richly layered screen-print in colors, the composition revisits one of the pivotal events in African American and maritime history—the 1839 revolt aboard the Spanish slave ship La Amistad, during which captured Africans rose against their captors in a courageous act of rebellion.
Rendered in Lawrence's hallmark style of angular forms and bold, interlocking color fields, the print conveys both physical movement and psychological tension. The overlapping limbs, vibrant palette of blues, browns, and reds, and diagonally thrusting lines immerse the viewer in the chaos and determination of the uprising. Lawrence's dynamic abstraction serves not merely as illustration but as a formal meditation on strength, coordination, and the human will to overcome oppression.
Printed by Lou Stovall Workshop Inc. and co-published by Aetna Life Insurance Company and Spradling-Ames, "Revolt on the Amistad" extends Lawrence's commitment to narrating African American history through modernist form. This work belongs to a broader series of prints that translated key moments from his painted historical cycles into the graphic medium, thereby broadening their accessibility and impact.
Through his masterful command of color, composition, and symbolism, Lawrence transforms a historical event into a timeless statement on justice and resilience. "Revolt on the Amistad" remains a quintessential example of Jacob Lawrence's narrative modernism, merging historical consciousness with an unmistakable visual language that continues to shape American art.
Measuring 40-1/8" x 32-1/8", Jacob Lawrence's 1989 screen-print "Revolt on the Amistad" is signed, numbered, titled, and dated on the bottom front. Purchase includes a gallery certificate of authenticity from Modern Artifact.
About Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000) was one of the most influential American painters of the twentieth century, renowned for his vivid depictions of African American life, history, and identity. Working primarily in tempera on board, Lawrence developed a distinctive style characterized by bold color, dynamic composition, and rhythmic patterning. His work bridged the traditions of social realism, modernism, and narrative art, establishing him as a central figure in African American modern art and a key voice of the Harlem Renaissance generation.
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and raised in Harlem, New York, Lawrence drew early inspiration from the cultural energy of the Harlem Renaissance and from artists and intellectuals such as Charles Alston and Augusta Savage. By the age of twenty-three, he had completed his groundbreaking Migration Series (1940–41), a sequence of sixty panels that chronicles the Great Migration—the mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North. The series, now jointly owned by the Museum of Modern Art and The Phillips Collection, remains one of the most celebrated achievements in American art history.
Throughout his career, Lawrence continued to explore themes of resilience, labor, community, and social justice through major series such as The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, The Frederick Douglass Series, and The Builders. His paintings combined a modernist approach to form and color with a deep commitment to historical narrative, creating a body of work that is both visually striking and profoundly human.
In addition to his painting, Lawrence was a respected teacher and mentor, serving on the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle for more than fifteen years. His work has been featured in major museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art.
Today, Jacob Lawrence is celebrated as a pioneering storyteller whose art continues to illuminate the struggles and triumphs of the African American experience. His innovative approach to narrative painting and his commitment to social history secure his legacy as one of the defining artists of modern America.
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