The Checker Players
Artist
Jacob Lawrence
(American, 1917–2000)
Date1947
Mediumegg tempera on gessoed panel (hardboard)
Dimensionscanvas: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Saundra B. Lane in memory of her husband, William H. Lane, and purchase through the Stoddard Acquisition Fund
Object number1996.62
Label TextLawrence is best known for his epic 60-panel series, The Migration Series, which depicts the Great Migration, the large-scale relocation of many African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North, like New York, during the first half of the twentieth century. His paintings lay bare the poverty and discrimination facing migrants like his own parents. Here, however, he depicted a more celebratory scene—men gathering to play checkers and monitor baseball scores—inspired by his teenage years in Harlem in the ‘30s. In 1947, the year this painting was created, Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American admitted to the major leagues, and won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award.On View
On view
