
About
In this image of a laborers’ quarters, Lawrence investigates the territory between abstraction and figuration. Combining formal experimentation in perspective and audacious subject matter, this portrayal of a workers quarters serves as an illusion to the eye in Lawrence’s Migration Series. While limiting the palette to only three colors: brown, dark green, and yellow, geometric shapes are used to delineate the dark, enclosed space. By converging diagonal lines, these abstract, geometric shapes are essentially transformed into a staircase, guiding spectating eyes down the white streaked wooden floorboards of a hall, leading to the knob of a closed door.n Any evidence of outside life is absent, as is a source of light in the darkness, alluding to the seclusiveness of the space as a whole. Due to its illusionistic qualities, a different interpretation this panel may be that the knob of the closed door is actually a bright yellow moon leading to an unknown world: an emblem of freedom. The poetic yet contrasting themes of freedom vs. confinement is evident.
SKU: 65206
Creator: Jacob Lawrence
Date: 1940-41
Original Medium: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Original Size: 18 x 12 in
Location: Museum of Modern Art, NY
© 2016 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Migration panel 46. Industries attempted to board their labor in quarters that were oftentimes very unhealthy. Labor camps were numerous.
by: Jacob Lawrence
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Custom Framing
We use the highest quality wood in our modern shop to create custom frames, frame your print with precision-cut acid-free mat board, and mount it behind a UV-blocking semi-gloss plexiglass to protect your art from the sun, dust, pollution, heat, and humidity. Then we add finishing touches like a wall hanging mount, wall friendly bumpers and a protective backing.
Please note that the images of frames displayed here are meant to be representative of those used in our custom-framed products, but may not exactly match the ones in the actual products

We Offer High Quality
Custom Framing
We use the highest quality wood in our modern shop to create custom frames, frame your print with precision-cut acid-free mat board, and mount it behind a UV-blocking semi-gloss plexiglass to protect your art from the sun, dust, pollution, heat, and humidity. Then we add finishing touches like wall hanging mount, wall friendly bumpers and a protective backing.