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Jacob Lawrence: American Storyteller

Jun 28 2024–Jan 5 2025

Seattle Art Museum

One of the 20th century’s most impactful American artists, Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000) is celebrated for his deftness as a visual storyteller. From serial elaborations of landmark events in American history, to genre scenes that capture the value of community, he perfected the devices of narrative and figuration at a time when abstraction dominated.

This focused exhibition brings together works by Lawrence from SAM’s and local collections in a series of case studies that survey the essential themes—family, community, history, human rights—that inform the artist’s works.

Image: The 1920's...The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots, 1974, Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917-2000, ink on paper, 32 x 24 5/16 in., Gift of the Lorillard Co., N.Y., 75.70, ©️ Jacob Lawrence.

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