Street Orator's Audience

This painting illustrates Harlem’s street life in the early- to mid-20th century, a large influence on Lawrence’s work. The caricatured faces contrast with a subdued color palette, their drooped eyes gazing upward at the street orator ascending the stairs. The horizontal stripes created by the stairs form different frames from which to view the gazing faces.  
SKU: 8380
Creator: Jacob Lawrence
Date: 1936
Original Medium: tempera on paper
Original Size: 24 x 19 1/8 in.
Location: Tacoma Art Museum
© 2011 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York