Deconstructing Lawrence’s Struggle Series: Panel 5

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Experiment Station

Jacob Lawrence, Struggle … From the History of the American People, no. 5: We have no property! We have no wives! No children! We have no city! No country!– Petition of Many Slaves, 1773, 1955. Egg tempera on hardboard, 12 x 16 in. Private Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This spring, former Phillips curator Beth Turner taught an undergraduate practicum at the University of Virginia focusing on Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle series. In this multi-part blog series, responses from Turner’s students in reference to individual works from the series will be posted each week. Read the introductory post here.

We have no property! We have no wives! No children! We have no city! No country! —Petition of Many Slaves, 1773

The struggle here is related to a slave revolt. The gold-colored mountain or wall in the center is representative of the impenetrable American government that refused to listen to the slaves’ petitions for a better, free life. Lawrence composed this panel to emphasize hardship, but still an unwavering courage to continue fighting.

One of the slaves who participated in a petition for emancipation in 1773 was Felix Holbrook. Holbrook was living in Boston and was a neutralist. This caption is a quote in a letter that Holbrook wrote to the provincial legislature of Massachusetts. He wrote the letter on behalf of his fellow slaves with the intention of finally gaining freedom. The letter was one in a series of four petitions. Holbrook narrates a life of hardship in his petition that compliments Lawrence’s ability to capture the fed-up, but forever brave sentiment of Felix’s letter.

Amy Woo

Letters for Freedom

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Experiment Station

Welcome, February; welcome, Black History Month! Alongside The Civil Rights Movement icons like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, I would like to honor a black artist who was a powerful voice for the African-American community, Jacob Lawrence. Currently on display in the museum is Lawrence’s Struggle series, a collection of panels narrating important and tumultuous scenes from American history. Though each panel is moving in its own way, my favorite from the series is number 5 (1955), captioned, “We have no property! We have no wives! No children! We have no city! No country! –Petition of many slaves, 1773.”

The way Lawrence was able to evoke such pain and heartache in this painting is astonishing. Noting the protruding ribs, tired eyes, and massive shackles of the slaves in the work, I feel as though the detail in the panel is what truly makes the narrative. The gold-colored mountain or wall in the center could be representative of the impenetrable American government that refused to listen to the slaves’ petitions for a better, free life. I am simply intrigued at how Lawrence composed this panel in a way that emphasizes hardship, but still an unwavering courage to continue fighting.

After a bit of research, I discovered this caption was a quote in a letter written from a slave named Felix Holbrook to the provincial legislature of Massachusetts. Felix was a neutralist during the Revolutionary War, meaning he did not support the Patriots or Loyalists, but he was an advocate for black liberty. He wrote the letter on behalf of his fellow slaves with the intention of finally gaining freedom. The letter was actually one of four in a series of petitions (1773-77) from a group of slaves in the Boston province.

The artist was able to flawlessly capture the fed-up, but forever brave sentiment of Felix’s letter into this beautiful panel. For this great contribution to art history, Jacob Lawrence, I thank you.

Aysia Woods, Marketing Intern

American Acrostics: Ernest Fiene

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Experiment Station

Ernest Fiene, Fall of Old Houses, not dated. Oil on canvas, 26 1/4 x 36 1/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1930.

To celebrate the last month of Made in the USA, we’ve asked Phillips staff to create acrostic poems for works in the exhibition. In this post, Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski highlights what she finds unusual about this cityscape scene.

Ernest Fiene, Fall of Old Houses
Urban scene…in pinks and blues??
Speeding Elevated trains
Assemblage of old and new / constant change

Dorothy Kosinski, Director