Jacob Lawrence was an African American painter and printmaker most well know for his portrayal of African American historical subjects. He referred to his style as “dynamic cubism” that can easily be seen in these prints from the Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture series. He was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1917, educated at the Pratt Institute and received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the Creative Arts. Jacob Lawrence held the position of professor of art at the University of Washington for 15 years. During WWII Lawrence served in the United States Coast Guard as an artist, but the works done at that time are lost. He also taught in the summer at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
