May 19, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC As part of the museum’s centennial celebrations, The Phillips Collection presents
Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, the first reunion since 1958 of the celebrated artist’s 30-panel series
Struggle: From the History of the American People. The exhibition includes two panels discovered in 2020 and 2021, offering a rare opportunity to reconstitute the lost narrative of the series and with it a radically integrated view of American history. The five-stop national exhibition tour organized by the Peabody Essex Museum culminates at the Phillips from June 26 to September 19, 2021.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century. Early in his career, he developed his unique multi-panel format and painted narratives portraits of the lives of famed African Americans. In 1942, Duncan Phillips purchased the odd-numbered panels of his acclaimed