In this work, the artist positions the viewer along a busy street in Harlem, which is bustling with activity. A construction worker descends into a manhole. A finely dressed businessman with a briefcase hurries to work, while a horse-drawn cart carries a brass bed frame—perhaps a sign of new arrivals to the neighborhood. The movement in the scene is accentuated by Lawrence’s frequent use of diagonal lines and angular shapes. In the midst of this colorful urban maelstrom, a photographer snaps a group portrait of a well-dressed family, the bright flash of his camera forming a dynamic barbed abstract form. Itinerant portrait photographers practiced their vocation on the streets of Harlem in the 1930s and ‘40s, capturing on-the-spot likenesses in tintypes (direct positive impressions on thin iron sheets) with box cameras.
The painting’s first owner was the social activist and politically left-wing photographer, graphic designer and painter Ben Shahn, who purchased the work from the pioneering and influential New York-based dealer of avant-garde art, Edith Halpert, owner of the Downtown Gallery, which represented both Lawrence and Shahn in the 1930s and ‘40s. Lawrence’s vibrant depictions of life in Harlem—in addition to his renowned series focused on prominent Black historical figures, such as Toussaint Louverture and Harriet Tubman—have served as touchstones for innumerable other artist-activists such as Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): J. LAWRENCE 42
the artist (1942–50; on consignment to Downtown Gallery, New York, 1942–50; sold by Downtown Gallery on November 9, 1950 to Shahn); Ben Shahn, New York (1950–d. 1969); his widow, Bernarda Shahn (1969–at least 1976); their daughter, Abby Shahn (by 1992–2001; sold through D. C. Moore Gallery, New York to MMA)
Providence, R.I. Brown University. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," February 3–24, 1944, no catalogue.
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Vassar College. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," March 4–25, 1944, no catalogue.
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Skidmore College. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," April 3–24, 1944, no catalogue.
University of Texas at Austin. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," May 8–29, 1944, no catalogue.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," June 11–July 2, 1944, no catalogue.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," July 19–August 13, 1944, no catalogue.
Eugene. University of Oregon. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," October 6–27, 1944, no catalogue.
Claremont, Calif. Pomona College. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," November 10–December 1, 1944, no catalogue.
Santa Fe. Museum of New Mexico. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," January 19–February 9, 1945, no catalogue.
Omaha, Neb. Joslyn Memorial Museum, Society of Liberal Arts. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," February 23–March 16, 1945, no catalogue.
Saint Paul, Minn. Hamline University. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," March 26–April 16, 1945, no catalogue.
Detroit. Wayne State University. "Twelve Contemporary Painters," April 26–May 17, 1945, no catalogue.
Winston-Salem, N.C. Salem College. "Group exhibition," February 1946, no catalogue [possibly this work].
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "Group exhibition," possibly March 1946, no catalogue.
Greensboro, N.C. Woman's College. "Group exhibition," possibly April 1946, no catalogue.
Black Mountain, N.C. Black Mountain College. "Jacob Lawrence," July 11–end August 1946, no catalogue (among eight paintings on view for students of the Summer Art Institute).
Art Museum, Princeton University. "Fragments of American Life: An Exhibition of Paintings: Romare Bearden, Joseph Delaney, Rex Gorleigh, Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith, Hale Woodruff," January 25–March 28, 1976, unnumbered cat. (p. 55; as "Street Photographer," lent by Mrs. Ben Shahn).
Katonah, N. Y. Katonah Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence: The Early Decades, 1935–1950," March 1–April 19, 1992, unnum. brochure (as "Photographer," lent by Abby Shahn).
New York. Midtown Payson Galleries. "Jacob Lawrence. An Overview: Paintings from 1936–1994," January 12–February 25, 1995, unnumbered cat. (p. 2; lent by a private collection).
New York. D. C. Moore Gallery. "Jacob Lawrence: Memorial Exhibition," February 6–March 3, 2001, no catalogue (checklist no. 7).
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, no. 18.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Street," March 5–May 27, 2013, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle," August 29–November 1, 2020, not in catalogue.
John Ralph Willis. Fragments of American Life: An Exhibition of Paintings: Romare Bearden, Joseph Delaney, Rex Goreleigh, Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith, Hale Woodruff. Exh. cat., Art Museum, Princeton University. Princeton, 1976, pp. 51, 55.
Dr. Leslie King-Hammond. Jacob Lawrence. An Overview: Paintings from 1936–1994. Exh. cat., Midtown Payson Galleries. New York, 1995, pp. 4, 25, ill. p. 2 (color).
Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. Jacob Lawrence: Paintings, Drawings, and Murals (1935–1999). A Catalogue Raisonné. Seattle, 2000, p. 66, no. P42-12, ill. (color), list the alternate title "Street Photographer".
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2000–2001." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 59 (Fall 2001), pp. 62–63, ill. (color).
Richard Clarke in "25 Who Made a Difference." International Review of African American Art 18, no. 1 (2001), p. 20, ill.
Lisa Gail Collins inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, pp. 45, 74, no. 18, ill. p. 44 (color).
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, pp. 16, 43.
Patricia Hills. Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence. Berkeley, 2009, p. 176.
Tanya Sheehan. "Confronting Taboo: Photography and the Art of Jacob Lawrence." American Art 28 (Fall 2014), pp. 31, 33–35, fig. 3 (color).
Denise Murrell. "The Mirror of History: Black Artists as Antiracist Activists." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 78 (Fall 2020), p. 35, fig. 31 (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)
1955
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