The Opener from the series The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture
1997 · Screenprint
sheet: 22 1/4 × 32 1/8" (56.5 × 81.6 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Jacob Lawrence
American, 1917
WA-00028104
Atlantic City, NJ, USA
PaintingSocial RealismRenaissance
Representation
None documented
9
Institutional Exhibitions
62
Works in Collection
111
Assets Indexed
4
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
100%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Influence Graph
No influence edges encoded yet.
Authority Records (3)
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
View all exhibitions →No image
Committed to Print
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1988
No image
The Artist as Adversary
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
No image
America Seen: Between The Wars
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1961
No image
XXVth Anniversary Exhibition: Paintings from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1954–1955
No image
Recent Acquisitions
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1951
No image
American Paintings from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1948–1949
No image
The Museum Collection of Painting and Sculpture
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1945–1946
No image
Paintings by Jacob Lawrence
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1944
Field Verification (4 fields)
4 cross-verified · 0 single-source
- BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
- Birth yearMoMA· 93%✓
- LocationMoMA· 93%✓
- NationalityMoMA· 93%✓
Source Registry (2)
- SothebysTier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
- MoMA bulk 2026-05-04Tier 1 · Institutional92%
About
Why this artist matters now
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter renowned for his narrative murals and series works depicting African American history and urban life. Working primarily in gouache and tempera on paper, he developed a modernist style characterized by flattened forms, bold primary colors, and geometric fragmentation that conveyed emotional intensity without sentimentality. His migration series and works addressing the Great Depression, the Harlem Renaissance, and everyday Black experience became foundational to twentieth-century American art. Lawrence taught at several institutions and maintained a studio practice spanning seven decades.
Source: Sothebys · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Social Realism
Medium
Painting
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (62)
View all 62 artworks →
Artwork sources (5)
62 published of 101 catalogued · 80 with image
- MoMA39 publishedof 78 catalogued73 img
- Cleveland Museum of Art7 published
- Art Institute Chicago7 published7 img
- The Met5 published
- Whitney4 published
Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)
7 entries · 1 sources
- 1994 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1997 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1995 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1974 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1958 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1949 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
- 1975 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Record
Images
Relationships
23Peers & Context12
Alvin Aileyco-exhibitedJean-Michel Basquiatco-exhibitedRomare Beardenco-exhibitedFaith Ringgoldco-exhibitedAlma Thomasco-exhibitedRashid Johnsonco-exhibited
Movements2
Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
In collection
Cleveland Museum of Art
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
In collection
Whitney Museum of American Art
In collection
Whitney Museum of American Art
In collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Market
Auction sale history
Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction
Network
Related Artists
Market
Auction History
Range: $3,780 – $4,470,000
| Work | Auction House | Date | Estimate | Hammer Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christie's | Apr 2026 | $70,000 – $100,000 | $69,850 | |
| Christie's | Feb 2026 | $6,000 – $8,000 | $4,826 | |
| Christie's | Nov 2025 | $700,000 – $1,000,000 | Unsold | |
| Christie's | Apr 2025 | $2,000,000 – $3,000,000 | Unsold | |
| Christie's | Jul 2024 | $5,000 – $7,000 | $10,080 | |
| Christie's | May 2024 | $2,000,000 – $3,000,000 | Unsold | |
| Christie's | Apr 2024 | $100,000 – $150,000 | $88,200 | |
| Christie's | Jul 2023 | $3,000 – $5,000 | $4,410 | |
| Christie's | Jul 2023 | $3,000 – $5,000 | $10,080 | |
| Christie's | Jul 2023 | $3,000 – $5,000 | $3,780 |
Showing 10 of 20 results
Record