Expressions Of Freedom

HARTFORD — Jacob Lawrence, a figurative painter with an unequalled gift for storytelling, is renowned for his visual dramatizations of the black American experience. Fifteen recent screenprints from the artist’s celebrated “Toussant L’Ouverture” series are the heart of “Jacob Lawrence and Expressions of Freedom,” an exhibition being presented by The Amistad Foundation at Wadsworth Atheneum through June 4.

Lawrence, who has been foremost among African-American artists for more than six decades, has often devoted series of paintings to a single subject. These range from contemporary genre scenes set in supermarkets and in Harlem, to historic events including black migration to America’s northern cities and the aftermath of Hiroshima, to sagas of heroic figures who symbolize the struggle for emancipation and equality.

The original “Toussant” series, painted in egg tempera on white paper, comprises 41 panels, each measuring only 11 by nine inches. Lawrence also wrote captions to accompany the paintings.

In 1986, when he began transferring the older paintings to screenprints, Lawrence decided to rework many of the images he had created a half century earlier. Image sizes were more than doubled, and colors and compositions were enhanced or brightened.

The exhibit also includes contemporary Haitian paintings from the collections of the Wadsworth and Amistad Foundation, as well as related photographs and prints belonging to The Amistad Foundation.

The Wadsworth Atheneum, at 600 Main Street in the state’s capital, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. For information, call 860/278-2670.