Artist's legacy reaches far beyond Harlem

ATLANTA - Weeks before his death, Jacob Lawrence explained the impetus behind ``The Migration Series,&#39;&#39; a 60-panel narrative of the black exodus from rural Southern towns to the North and West from 1916 to 1930. <br> <br> ``I am a part of the migration. My family&#39;s a part of it,&#39;&#39; he said of the series that debuted at New York&#39;s Downtown Gallery in 1941, a first for any black artist. ``I couldn&#39;t do one painting to tell this story. I painted all the panels ... pure as it was on the floor, all at the same time.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lawrence died of cancer June 9, 2000. He was 82. <br> <br> Part of ``The Migration Series&#39;&#39; is among nearly 200 works at the High Museum of Art through September. ``Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence&#39;&#39; is a comprehensive retrospective that spans seven decades. <br> <br> In a Harlem studio, Lawrence and wife, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, also an artist, experimented with geometric shapes, bold colors and poetic text. <br> <br> ``We were sensitive to each others&#39; work,&#39;&#39; his 89-year-old widow told The Associated Press. ``We had our own studios and style but we both shared the desire ... we thought it was important for people to be exposed to the arts.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Ed Bradley of &#39;&#39;60 Minutes&#39;&#39; interviewed her as part of the High&#39;s lecture series in June. The couple&#39;s passion flows through their art, he said. <br> <br> ``She was an integral part of his work. I think it&#39;s a remarkable exhibit because it shows the breadth and strength of Jacob Lawrence,&#39;&#39; Bradley said. ``This was somebody who had a fascination with art and community and who loved the act of painting.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Atlanta exhibit, the fourth leg of a national tour, contains panels on public display for the first time, including some from the private collection of retired Savannah surgeon Walter O. Evans. <br> <br> ``His work will be a tremendous legacy, but he was such an humble person,&#39;&#39; said Evans, who knew Lawrence from 1981. ``I&#39;m sure he knew he was a great artist but ego just didn&#39;t exist in this man.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The show, organized by The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., opened there May 2001, then traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and The Detroit Institute of Fine Arts. Unforeseen scheduling changes shifted the venue from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to Atlanta. <br> <br> The show will later go to The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and then close in Seattle, where Lawrence spent the latter part of his life teaching at the University of Washington. <br> <br> ``He was one of the most graceful and powerful people I&#39;ve known,&#39;&#39; said Beth Turner, senior curator of The Phillips Collection. ``We wanted to capture the full range of Jake&#39;s work and the narrative of his own creative struggle. The dignity and power of the images, from Harriet Tubman to laborers, they all become heroic figures.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The abstract art sometimes jars the senses with vibrant reds, blues, greens and yellows. Out of necessity, he used inexpensive tempera (poster) paints on hardboard panels early on. What he saw and heard in Harlem, he painted. <br> <br> ``Well, the street was color. It was texture, it was design,&#39;&#39; Lawrence says in a videotape shown at the High. ``All these things were going on. There were musicians, actors, painters, sculptors and they used to talk about the challenges of their craft. All these art forms are sort of interwoven.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Sylvia Yount, curator of American Art at the High, devoted its fourth floor gallery to the massive exhibit. <br> <br> ``This is a show that won&#39;t come around again,&#39;&#39; Yount said. ``This is just an extraordinary picture of our century. He&#39;s a sensitive chronicler of the American experience.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lawrence grappled with segregation, alienation and personal insecurities. The ``War Series&#39;&#39; (1946) takes an introspective turn after his stint in the Coast Guard. Mood and hues darken as in ``The Letter,&#39;&#39; a faceless woman shrouded in despair, head bowed and focused on tragic news from abroad. <br> <br> There are panels on loan from the Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and white abolitionist John Brown series. Also shown: ``The Red Earth - in Georgia&#39;&#39;, a commissioned work on the impoverished Southern ``Black Belt;&#39;&#39; gouache and tempera paintings on World War II, the civil rights movement and a series called ``Builders&#39;&#39; multilayered scenes of construction workers and tools that serve as metaphors for unity, aspirations and hope. <br> <br> The 1982 commissioned illustrations of John Hersey&#39;s ``Hiroshima&#39;&#39; (1947), chilling ivory skulls and flesh-colored images frozen in time, are reserved for the gallery&#39;s last room. <br> <br> Lawrence learned from the masters of the Harlem Renaissance and the Works Projects Administration such as painter and sculptor Charles Alston, who became his mentor. He also learned from philosopher Alain Locke, writers Langston Hughes and Claude McKay and painter Josef Albers at the Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C. <br> <br> ``The foundation and its mentorship programs are inspired by his early experiences,&#39;&#39; said Peter Nesbett, executive director of the Lawrence Foundation in Harlem. ``He had that wonderful relationship with Charles Alston and that encouraged him immensely.&#39;&#39;

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