Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club | National Endowment for the Humanities

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class="l-right-sidebar__main"> <div class="project__type type-label">Project</div> <div class="project__title"> <h1 class="page-title l-right-sidebar--thin page-title--large"><em>Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club</em></h1> <h3 class="page-category"> <a href="/divisions/public" hreflang="en">Division of Public Programs</a> </h3> </div> <div class="project__image"> <div class="media-image has-image-info"> <div class="media-image__image"> <picture> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_page/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?h=1eca86f3&itok=7LaYZT43 1x" media="(min-width: 1024px)" type="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="800"/> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_page/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?h=1eca86f3&itok=7LaYZT43 1x" media="(min-width: 700px)" type="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="800"/> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?itok=AYzspOl2 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="600" height="426"/> <img loading="eager" src="/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?itok=AYzspOl2" width="600" height="426" alt="Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000), Market Scene, 1966 - Gouache on paper, Chrysler Museum of Art" typeof="foaf:Image" /> </picture> </div> <div class="image-info has-no-caption-accordion"> <div class="image-info__icon">Photo caption</div> <div class="image-info__content"> <div class="image-info__content-inner"> <div class="data-colorbox-inline" data-width="1200px" data-height="820px" data-colorbox-inline=".2041687117"></div> <div class="image-info__caption"><p>Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000), <em>Market Scene</em>, 1966 - Gouache on paper, Chrysler Museum of Art</p></div> <div class="image-info__credit"><p>The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="hidden"> <div class="2041687117" id="2041687117"> <div class="media-image has-image-info"> <div class="media-image__image"> <picture> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_page/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?h=1eca86f3&itok=7LaYZT43 1x" media="(min-width: 1024px)" type="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="800"/> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_page/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?h=1eca86f3&itok=7LaYZT43 1x" media="(min-width: 700px)" type="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="800"/> <source srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?itok=AYzspOl2 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="600" height="426"/> <img loading="eager" src="/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-02/Lawrence_MarketScene.jpg?itok=AYzspOl2" width="600" height="426" alt="Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000), Market Scene, 1966 - Gouache on paper, Chrysler Museum of Art" typeof="foaf:Image" /> </picture> </div> <div class="image-info has-no-caption-accordion"> <div class="image-info__icon">Photo caption</div> <div class="image-info__content"> <div class="image-info__content-inner"> <div class="image-info__caption"><p>Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000), <em>Market Scene</em>, 1966 - Gouache on paper, Chrysler Museum of Art</p></div> <div class="image-info__credit"><p>The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="project__body"> <section class="paragraph paragraph--type-text paragraph--display-mode-default l-section"> <div class="l-section__content "> <div class="field-body-rte"><p><em>Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club</em> explores the connection between African American artist Jacob Lawrence and his contemporaries based in West Africa through the Nigerian publication <em>Black Orpheus.</em> The exhibition features over 125 objects, including Lawrence’s little-known 1964–65 <em>Nigeria </em>series, works by the artists featured in <em>Black Orpheus</em><em>, </em>archival images, videos, and letters.</p> <p>The Mbari Artists & Writers Club was an artistic organization of Nigerian-based artists, writers, and dramatists promoting modern African and international artistic practice. The core of the exhibition centers on the Mbari arts and culture magazine <em>Black Orpheus</em> (1957–67). The publication was one of the main vehicles for circulating fictional and non-fictional writings by African and African Diaspora writers. It also included reviews of international visual artists from throughout the African continent, India, Brazil, Japan, Austria, U.S., and Germany.</p> <p><a href="https://www.neh.gov/article/jacob-lawrence-nigeria">Read about the <em>Black Orpheus</em> exhibition and Jacob Lawrence's <em>Nigeria</em> series of paintings and drawings at NEH's magazine, <em>Humanities</em>. </a></p> <p>See the NEH-funded traveling exhibition <em>Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club </em>at: <br> <a href="https://chrysler.org/exhibition/jacob-lawrence/">Chrysler Museum of Art</a>, October 7, 2022 — January 8, 2023<br> <a href="https://noma.org/exhibitions/black-orpheus-jacob-lawrence-and-the-mbari-club/#">New Orleans Museum of Art</a>, February 10–May 7, 2023<br> <a href="https://www.toledomuseum.org/about/news/toledo-museum-art-presents-jacob-lawrence%E2%80%99s-nigeria-series-summer-exhibition">Toledo Museum of Art</a>, June 3–September 3, 2023</p></div> </div> </section> <section 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