Roseann and Philip L. Perry Gallery

Educated in the vibrant arts community of the Harlem Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence employed a modern visual style influenced by African and European art that combined bright colors and angular figures with a tight narrative structure to illustrate the histories and heroes of Black culture. For this iteration of Sheldon in Focus, the museum presents two significant works by Lawrence—the painting Paper Boats (1948) and the eight-print series Eight Studies for The Book of Genesis (1990).

This exhibition was organized by Christian Wurst, associate curator for exhibitions .