Materials/Media:Silkscreen (signed and numbered in pencil)
Date Documented:15 August 2008
Condition:Excellent
Description:Portrait of a female dressed in a red dress and a male dressed in gray and black. The female subject is seated at a table and the male subject is standing and reading a newspaper. There is a vase on the table which holds a flower. The artist's signature is in the right hand corner.
History:Born in Harlem in 1917, New York City, Jacob Lawrence was trained at the Harlem Art Workshop under Charles Alston. He also attended the American Artist's School in 1937 and worked as a painter for the WPA Federal Art Project. Lawrence painted historical works that depicted the lives of famous African American figures such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. After serving in the Coast Guard during World War II, he began creating paintings to support the civil rights movement. Gradually his later work developed into more abstract concepts.
