Struggle #2

1965

American, 1917 - 2000

With this drawing, the historical struggle that Jacob Lawrence chronicled in his eponymous series continues in the brutal fight for racial equality that took place in the United States during the 1960s. Mounted police trample and beat down protestors with the goal of subduing and silencing them, echoing reporting in the media on real-life law-enforcement tactics at civil rights demonstrations.

Ink and gouache on paper

22 1/4 x 30 3/4 in. (56.52 x 78.11 cm)

Gift of anonymous donors in honor of the museum's 50th year

84.101

Provenance: Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, New York, July 2, 1984

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLittle Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas Art Center, Annual Collectors Show, Dec. 4, 1981 - Jan. 3, 1982.

College Park, Pennsylvania, Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Pennsylvania State University, Romare Bearden And Jacob Lawrence, Apr. 4 - 30, 1982.

Pomona, New Jersey, Stockton State College, Jacob Lawrence: An Exhibition Of His Works, Feb. 5 - 25, 1983. Reproduced on cover.

Hempstead, New York, Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Celebrating Contemporary Black American Artists, Mar. 13 - May 1, 1983.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Recent Modern Acquisitions, Aug. 27 - Oct. 18, 1987.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Views And Visions In The Pacific Northwest, June 6 - Sept. 2, 1990.

Katonah, New York, Katonah Museum of Art, In Good Conscience: The Radical Tradition In 20th Century American Illustration, Aug.16, 1992 - Sept. 27, 1992 (Hanover, New Hampshire, Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, Oct. 17 - Dec. 26, 1992; Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Jan. 10 - Feb. 21, 1993).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Five Installations on the Fourth Floor: Horses, June 26, 1997.

Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Jacob Lawrence: Painting Life, July 2 - September 27, 1998.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Art of Protest, April 27 2000 - January 21, 2001.

Washington, D.C., The Phillip’s Collection, Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence, May 27 - Aug. 19, 2001 (New York, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Nov. 8 - Feb. 3, 2002; Detroit, Michigan, The Detroit Institute of arts, Feb. 24 - May 19, 2002; Los Angeles, California, June 16 - Sept. 8, 2002; Houston, Texas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Oct. 5, 2002 - Jan. 5, 2003; Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Feb. 6 - May 4, 2003). Text by Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. No cat. no., pp. 184-185, reproduced fig. 78.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Freeing the Figure, Nov. 5, 2009 - Nov. 28, 2010.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Jacob Lawrence: American Storyteller, June 28, 2024 - January 5, 2025.

Published ReferencesHalper, Vicki. "Acquisitions," in the Seattle Art Museum Calendar, November 1984.

Harkins Wheat, Ellen. "Jacob Lawrence and the Legacy of Harlem," in Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1986, p. 23, illus. (republished in AAAJ, Vol. 30, No. 1/4, A Retrospective Selection of Articles, 1990, p. 124).

Johns, Barbara. Modern Art from the Pacific Northwest in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1990, no. 17, p. 21.

Kangas, Matthew, "Relocations: Selected Art Essays and Interviews", 2008, p. 115.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM