Lot 45
  • 45

Jacob Lawrence 1917 - 2000

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • Jacob Lawrence
  • City College is Like a Beacon Over Harlem
  • signed J. Lawrence and dated 43 (upper left); also signed Jacob Lawrence and dated 1943 on the mat (lower right)
  • gouache on paper
  • 21 by 14 inches
  • (53.3 by 35.6 cm)

Provenance

The Downtown Gallery, New York
Curt Valentin, New York (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, Paris, France, 1943 (gift from the above)
By descent to the present owner

Exhibited

The Downtown Gallery, New York, Harlem by Jacob Lawrence: Exhibition of Paintings in Gouache, May 1943, no. 26

Catalogue Note

According the Peter T. Nesbett, "The painting depicts St. Nicholas Park, viewed from West 139th Street between Edgecombe Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue, looking west. The grey building on the top of the hill is Shepard Hall (aka Great Hall) on the City College Campus. ...The work was created at the same time that Lawrence painted the thirty paintings from 'This is Harlem,' and it is probably one of these works. ...I cannot say for sure, but I am rather confident that it is no. 26 in the series, and is captioned or titled 'City College is like a beacon over Harlem.'" A letter from Mr. Nesbett, co-author of Jacob Lawrence, Paintings Drawings and Murals (1935-1999): A Catalogue Raisonné, will accompany this lot.