Builders No. 3
Builders No. 3
Artist
Jacob Lawrence
(1917 - 2000)
Date1974
MediumScreen print on paper
Dimensions30 x 22 1/8 in. (76.2 x 56.2 cm)
Framed: 38 1/2 × 31 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.
Framed: 38 1/2 × 31 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.53
Signedl.r., in pencil: Jacob Lawrence - 1974
Accession number
2010.53
DescriptionPublished by Northside Center for Child Development, Bronx, NYOn View
Not on viewLabel TextCreated in the 1970s, Builders No. 3 draws on prints made during the Great Depression depicting organized labor. Those images, created in the 1930s, celebrated American values of grit and teamwork to showcase a powerful nation. Tapping into such ideas, Jacob Lawrence inserts African Americans into these iconic American roles.
Builders always fascinated Lawrence. As a child he loved to watch them at work, and as an adult he collected tools. To Lawrence, making art held a similar importance: “the hand itself is a beautiful tool,” he once proclaimed.
Inscribedrecto, l.l., in pencil: 43/150
recto, l.c., in pencil: Builders No. 3
