NEW ORLEANS — The Amistad Research Center announced in May that it was awarded a $1 million grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art to conserve a series of original paintings by renowned African American artist Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000). The grant will also support research and the future development of an exhibition co-organized by ARC and the Terra Foundation.
Based in New Orleans, the Amistad Research Center is an independent archive dedicated to chronicling and preserving the cultural and artistic contributions of the African diaspora in the United States. It also houses collections of archival materials from other underrepresented groups, including Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinx Americans, Jewish Americans, the LGBTQ community, and members of the Appalachian region of the United States.
The Terra Foundation grant will allow for the work to conserve the Toussaint L’Ouverture Series, 41 paintings created by Lawrence in 1938 that capture the events surrounding the Haitian Revolution (Révolution Haïtienne) of 1791 led by its commander-in-chief Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743–1803). The grant represents the Terra Foundation’s ongoing commitment to expanding the narratives of American art by supporting the preservation, interpretation, and exhibition of works by a broad and diverse range of artists across time.
“We are grateful to the Terra Foundation for American Art for their commitment to the conservation of the Toussaint L’Ouverture Series, an important body of work by an equally important artist within American art history,” said Kathe Hambrick, executive director of the Amistad Research Center. “Fortifying our abilities to preserve our extensive visual art collection and archival holdings is a critical step in our efforts to make this material readily available to independent researchers, scholars, and the public. This allows for serious and widespread study of artists representing the full depth and range of the American experience.”
“The Amistad Research Center is a significant repository for American art with vast and important archival holdings. Its collections offer incredible opportunities to deepen our knowledge of American art and to enhance our understanding of artists as global scholars and leaders,” said Turry Flucker, a cultural historian and now vice president of collections and partnerships at the Terra Foundation for American Art. “The Terra Foundation is delighted to support this multi-year project to conserve the Toussaint L’Ouverture Series, allowing future audiences to experience, learn, and study this dynamic body of work.”
