Lithograph in colors, 1965, with printed signature lower right (no hand-signed or numbered copies exist), printed by United Church Press, Boston/Philadelphia, published by United Homeland Ministries, Boston, from the portfolio Christian Concepts in Art: Seven Original Lithographs and accompanied by original portfolio cover, matted and framed.

Image size 13 1/4 x 18 in.; Frame dimensions 28 x 32 3/4 in.

Private Collection, Alexandria, Virginia

This rare print by Jacob Lawrence is only the second print ever completed by the artist. It is from an edition of an unknown size, and only few have ever circulated on the auction market.

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lawrence became known for his narrative series of tempera paintings expressive of his own life and that of his black peers who migrated from the South to the North. His vivid collage-appearing canvases typically had bold planes of color and symbolic elements of African-American heritage of struggles, aspirations, and accomplishments.

Lawrence's style is wide ranging, but he is most associated with narrative Synthetic Cubism whose popularity and uniqueness were suppressed by the advent of Abstract Expressionism. His major work, The Migration of the Negro, was a social-realist culmination of the art of the 1930s and not a harbinger of new styles.

Lawrence remains one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His works are held in such important institutions as the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and others.

Good estate condition; a nice, bright sheet; three negligible soft creases at right; not examined out of frame.

$1,000 - 3,000