Jacob Lawrence
The Brown Angel

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Artist Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000)American, 1917–2000

CultureAmerican

Titles

The Brown Angel

Date1959

Made inUnited States

MediumTempera on gesso panel

DimensionsPanel: 23 5/16 × 19 1/4 in. (59.2 × 48.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation, with additional funds provided by the African American Art Advisory Association and ExxonMobil

Object number2004.202

Not on view

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Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionA generation younger than the leaders of
the New Negro movement that defined the
Harlem Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence trained
at the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem
Community Center in the in the 1930s. His
strong narrative skills and graphic economy
were first expressed in his multi-paneled
painting cycles, including his landmark
Migration Series (1940–41). His later works,
including The Brown Angel, pack a wealth
of narrative detail into a single scene, and were
executed in a style Lawrence identified as
“dynamic cubism.” Lawrence explained
further, “I wanted a staccato-type thing—
raw, sharp, rough—that’s what I tried to get.”
Provenance[The Alan Gallery, New York]; Mr. and Mrs. Irving Levick, Buffalo; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, June 4, 1982, lot 182]; [Terry Dintenfass Inc., New York]; [Gerhard Wurzer Gallery, Houston]; purchased by MFAH, 2004.
Exhibition History"Acquisitions of the Last Five Years: Selections of Modern and Contemporary Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 15–October 15, 2005.

"Houston Collects: African American Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 31–October 26, 2008.

"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

"Art Across America," National Museum of Korea, Seoul, February 4–May 19, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Korea, June 17–September 1, 2013.

"The Visual Blues," Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, March 8–July 13, 2014; Telfair Museum of Art, Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, Georgia, January 30–May 3, 2015.

"Imprinted: Illustrating Race," Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 11–October 30, 2022.

"Afro-Atlantic Histories," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 24, 2021–January 17, 2022; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 11, 2022–September 10, 2023; Dallas Museum of Art, October 22, 2023–February 11, 2024. (OL.1505)
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed lower right: "Jacob Lawrence 59"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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