This summer Baker University’s Holt/Russell Gallery will be home to an exhibit by artist Jacob Lawrence.
The exhibit consists of Lawrence’s “The John Brown Series” which are 22 prints organized by the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Professor of Art Walt Bailey has helped in the preparation of this exhibit and said he admires Lawrence.
“He was a revolutionary but didn’t have a huge following,” he said.
In the series, Lawrence portrays John Brown, a white man who died fighting to overthrow slavery in the United States.
Bailey said Lawrence’s work is very important.
“Jacob Lawrence is the most important Black-American artist of the 20th Century,” he said. “This particular show is interesting because he started in 1941. He was a young, black man in a still racist country.”
The exhibit will be held during the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Black Jack. Bailey says this was a conscious choice.
The exhibit will be open to the public May 22-June 19 and will feature two gallery talks, one by Crystal Anderson, assistant professor of American studies at the University of Kansas on June 3 at 1 p.m. and one by Bailey on June 17 at 2 p.m.