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Haiti to Harlem: Toussaint L'Ouverture & Jacob Lawrence Main Menu Jacob Lawrence: The Storyteller Paintings to Prints The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture in Print Contextualizing The Prints Curating the Exhibition Imprints and Impact Highlights the impact of the Jacob Lawrence prints in relation to both Lawrence's life and the history of global POC liberation. About the Curators Meet the Fall 2024 Curatorial Class! Select Bibliography

Strategy

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Left: The blacks were led by three chiefs, Jean Francois, Biassou, and Jeannot; Toussaint serving as aide-de-camp for Biassou (1937) / Right: Strategy (1994) 

In Strategy (1994), Lawrence uses stark, bold colors and angular shapes to convey intensity and focus. The figures, gathered around a map illuminated by a flickering flame, symbolize strategic planning amid danger. A central figure, likely Toussaint L’Ouverture, commands the scene with his back turned to the viewer, embodying leadership and determination. The surrounding shadows and muted tones evoke the hardships of war, framing the moment with tension and isolation. In renaming the scene from painting to print, Lawrence emphasizes L'Ouverture's military genius and intellectual rigor behind the Haitian Revolution. The map in the leader’s hand signifies both the immediacy of battle and the broader fight for freedom, highlighting the revolution’s enduring impact on global struggles against colonialism and slavery. 

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