The Phillips Collection, in Washington DC, is known for being one of the finest art, modern and otherwise, collections in the nation. While it is mostly known for the physical exhibitions that they put on, the Collection is trying to branch out into new territory and is currently attempting to develop a website based around the art, scholarship, photos, and interviews of Jacob Lawrence. Jacob Lawrence is one of the preeminent African-American artists whose work focused heavily on the lives and experiences of African-Americans. Many consider Lawrence’s masterpiece to be the Migration series and it is these paintings that are the main focus of the website that the Phillips Collection is trying to create.
The estimated cost of the microsite is $125,000 and officials at the Phillips Collection have already raised $80,000. They have asked the public for the remaining $45,000 for a website that is going to be truly magnificent. The website is going to consist of images of all 60 panels in the Migration series which were originally drawn on cardboard. Along with the images, the website is also going to have two unpublished interviews between Lawrence and the curators of the Phillips Collection that were taken in 1992 and 2000. While the Phillips Collection has organized national tours of Lawrence’s work, this is the first time they have dedicated this sort of website to any particular artist and so it can be seen as a template for the future of art interaction.
Many believe the Migration Series to be Lawrence’s best work and so it is a fitting tribute to his legacy. It shows the migration of African-Americans to the north from the rural south after the WW1 but before WW2. The Phillips Collection first showed the series in 1942 and then bought all of the odd-numbered panels in 1943 (MOMA has all of the even-numbered panels). With themes of freedom, struggle, and the search for a better life, the website is meant to allow people to experience the work as it was meant to be experienced during that time.
If you’d like to read more, the link is here.
If you’d like to donate to the campaign, that link is here.
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