DES MOINES, IOWA – As a local custom frame retailer and art gallery called - The Great Frame Up in West Des Moines - we enjoy supporting local artists. This month we celebrate an extraordinary iconic artist from New York. I would like to reintroduce The Des Moines Urban Experience readers to Jacob Lawrence, one of the greatest modern painters of the twentieth century. His use of historical events, personal connection and focused perspective come alive in the colors and composition of his artwork. “When Jacob Lawrence was a boy growing up in Harlem, rats gnawed at the table legs and roaches crawled the floor. You see them in his art. He remembers the depression, when bootleg whiskey cost 25 cents a quart. He will not let us forget race riots and chain gangs, war, misery and lynchings. Yet his pictures do not chide us. They evoke more pride than pity, more cheer than bitter rage . . . . Lawrence loves humanity. You see that in his imagery, in the kindness of his smile and in the patience with which he signs autographs for kids. An aura of affection, goodwill and respect, both given and received, shines around the man, and like armor round his art.” - Washington Post
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