Lawrence painted Blind Beggars while working as one of the youngest artists on the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Depicting a street scene in Harlem, the painting contrasts the profoundly different states of a visually impaired couple as they make their way down the sidewalk and the carefree children who frolic around them. The brick apartment building throws into relief the presence of the couple, evoking their precarious condition as it recedes into space.
In 1968, Lawrence participated in "The Black Artist in America: A Symposium," held in conjunction with Harlem on My Mind: The Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900–1968, an exhibition at The Met that lacked actual artwork by Black artists, focusing instead on photographic reproductions of the neighborhood and its inhabitants. In this context, Lawrence, speaking as a kind of elder statesman of Black art, recalled his time on the W.P.A. fondly, asserting: "If we go back about thirty years we'll find that some of the greatest progress, economic, professional . . . was made then . . . not only [by] Negro artists but [by] white ones as well." Throughout a spirited conversation with other Black artists—recorded in a Met Bulletin (January 1969)—Lawrence shared his views on racism in the art world, exclaiming, "It’s going to take education—educating the white community to respect and to recognize the intellectual capacity of Black artists... . We're always in Negro shows, not just shows."
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): J. Lawrence '38
New York City W. P. A. (1938–43; their gift to MMA)
New York. American Artists School. "Jacob Lawrence," February 6–24, 1939, no. 7 (as "Beggar No. 1").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 15).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Oswego. Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," January 25–February 13, 1977, no. 12.
Hamilton, N. Y. Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," February 27–March 20, 1977, no. 12.
Albany Institute of History and Art. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," May 17–June 8, 1977, no. 12.
Wilmington. Delaware Art Museum. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," July 29–August 28, 1977, no. 12.
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," September 4–25, 1977, no. 12.
Alfred, N.Y. Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," September 30–October 28, 1977, no. 12.
Grey Art Gallery, New York University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," November 17, 1977–January 3, 1978, no. 12.
Huntington, West Va. Huntington Galleries. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," January 10–February 3, 1978, no. 12.
Hempstead, N. Y. Hofstra University, Emily Lowe Gallery. "A Blossoming of New Promises: Art in the Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance," February 5–March 18, 1984, no. 26.
Seattle Art Museum. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," July 10–September 7, 1986, no. 12.
Oakland, Calif. Oakland Museum. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," September 26–November 30, 1986, no. 12.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," December 16, 1986–March 1, 1987, no. 12.
Washington, D. C. Phillips Collection. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," April 3–June 1, 1987, no. 12.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," July 19–September 6, 1987, no. 12.
Brooklyn Museum. "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter," October 1–December 1, 1987, no. 12.
Pleasantville, N. Y. Reader's Digest. "Faces and Figures: Selected Works by Black Artists from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–April 1, 1988, brochure no. 16.
Katonah, N. Y. Katonah Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence: The Early Decades, 1935–1950," March 1–April 19, 1992, unnum. brochure.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "American Realism Between the Wars, 1919 to 1941," April 10–June 5, 1994, unnumbered cat. (fig. 77).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin," February 1–April 30, 1995, not in catalogue.
Washington, D. C. Phillips Collection. "Over the Line: The Art of Jacob Lawrence," May 27–August 19, 2001, unnumbered cat. (fig. 112; as "Blind Beggars [Beggar No. 1]")).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Over the Line: The Art of Jacob Lawrence," November 8, 2001–February 3, 2002, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "African-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–May 4, 2003, extended to July 6, 2003, not in catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "One Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North," April 3–September 7, 2015, not in catalogue.
Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. "Outliers and American Vanguard Art," January 28–May 13, 2018, unnumbered cat. (pl. 67).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle," August 29–November 1, 2020, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Alice Neel: People Come First," March 22–August 1, 2021, unnumbered cat. (fig. 10).
J[eannette]. L[owe]. "New Exhibitions of the Week: The Negro Sympathetically Rendered by Lawrence; Weschsler." Art News 37 (February 18, 1939), p. 15, generally discusses the works in Exh. New York 1939.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 84.
Matthew Baigell. The American Scene: American Painting of the 1930's. New York, 1974, fig. 119.
Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz. New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State. Exh. cat., Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences, Oswego. Hamilton, N.Y., 1977, p. 79, no. 12, ill.
Lowery Sims. "The Metropolitan: Collecting Black Art." Routes Magazine 3 (May 1980), p. 24.
Paul Richard. "Mixing It Up At the Metropolitan: Standards & Surprises at the Museum's New Wallace Wing." Washington Post (February 1, 1987), p. F9.
Lowery S. Sims. Faces and Figures: Selected Works by Black Artists from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. brochure, Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, N.Y. 1988, unpaginated, no. 16.
Richard J. Powell. Jacob Lawrence. New York, 1992, unpaginated, ill. and colorpl. 2.
Kathy Grantham. "Jacob Lawrence Retrospective." North County News (March 25–31, 1992), p. V2, ill.
Franklin Hill Perrell inAmerican Realism Between the Wars: 1919 to 1941. Exh. cat., Nassau County Museum of Art. Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1994, pp. 35, 61, fig. 77.
Karin Lipson. "Realism Revisited." Newsday (April 29, 1994), p. B21.
Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. Jacob Lawrence: Paintings, Drawings, and Murals (1935–1999). A Catalogue Raisonné. Seattle, 2000, p. 35, no. P38-14, ill. (color), call it "Beggar No. 1," noting that after 1949 it was exhibited and published as "Blind Beggars".
Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois, ed. Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. Exh. cat., Phillips Collection, Washington, D. C. Seattle, 2000, p. 302.
Elizabeth Steele inOver the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. Ed. Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. Exh. cat., Phillips Collection, Washington, D. C. Seattle, 2000, pp. 248–50, 264 n. 7, fig. 112 (color), calls it "Beggar No. 1".
Michael R. Schilling et al. inOver the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. Ed. Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. Exh. cat., Phillips Collection, Washington, D. C. Seattle, 2000, pp. 267–68, call it "Beggar No. 1".
Patricia Hills. Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence. Berkeley, 2009, pp. 15, 38, 40, 216, 291 n. 28, fig. 25 (color), notes that during Exh. New York 1939 this picture "could potentially be sold, but such outside sales might jeopardize his status on the relief rolls of the FAP [Federal Art Project]".
Jenevive Nykolak inOutliers and American Vanguard Art. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2018, pp. 351, 380, colorpl. 67.
Maricelle Robles inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 224, 271 n. 11.
Kelly Baum and Randall Griffey inAlice Neel: People Come First. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2021, p. 19, fig. 10 (color).
In this short feature, produced to accompany a 1993 LACMA exhibition of Jacob Lawrence’s series on Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, hear from the artist and those who knew him well.
Jacob Lawrence (American, Atlantic City, New Jersey 1917–2000 Seattle, Washington)
1954
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