Exhibition Catalog | Jacob Lawrence

artists and their work. Shortly after her mother passed away, Joelle introduced me to
her father and shared with me her parents’ love for the arts. It was such an honor to
visit Dr. Kayden and learn about the commitment he and his wife shared to building
friendships with artists and supporting their work.
It is thanks to all of this that the Cantor now holds one of the largest collections
of the work of Jacob Lawrence of any museum. Staunch supporters of Stanford
and the Cantor’s educational mission, the Kaydens have given the museum an unparalleled
collection of fifty-six works by Lawrence, all dating between 1943 and 1998,
and one painting by his wife, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. Comprising thirteen
paintings, three drawings, thirty-nine prints, and one book illustrated with his
original screenprints, the collection represents the arc of Lawrence’s distinguished
career. With this addition to its collection, the Cantor is now positioned to be a leading
resource for students and scholars to study both Lawrence’s work and the social and
political conditions of the historical era in which it was produced. Although long-term
academic and community engagement with the Kayden collection will unfold over
many years, in immediate celebration of the gift, Promised Land: Jacob Lawrence at the
Cantor, a Gift from the Kayden Family both honors the family’s generosity and marks a
revelatory moment in the examination of this great American artist.
Befitting the Kaydens’ entwined commitments to art and education, the
exhibition planning included a course for undergraduate students at Stanford taught
by Dr. Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, the Cantor’s Burton and Deedee McMurtry Curator
of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. This intensive introduction to Lawrence’s
career and key aspects of curatorial and art historical practices involved twelve
undergraduate students in designing the gallery layout and writing exhibition texts.
The resulting installation displays these works together for the first time.
And while the students were able to work intensively with the entire gift in
the process of building the exhibition, the catalogue features seven texts by Stanford
faculty members, each the result of deep engagement with a single work by Lawrence.
With a fresh and interdisciplinary approach, the publication examines these major
selections from the Kayden gift as a means of exploring the artist’s significance to
American art and illuminating the social and political contexts in which the iconography
of his work is based.
It was a distinct pleasure to work with Dr. Kayden to bring the family’s
collection to Stanford. He recognized the importance of placing these works at a university
art museum, where they could be a resource for students for generations to
come. Shortly after the terms of the family’s generous gift to the Cantor were finalized,
Dr. Kayden passed away. As we present this extraordinary collection of work by Jacob
Lawrence in its entirety for the first time, we dedicate this book and the exhibition to
the memory of Dr. Herbert J. Kayden and his wife, Dr. Gabrielle H. Reem.
CONNIE WOLF
JOHN AND JILL FREIDENRICH DIRECTOR
IRIS & B. GERALD CANTOR CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS
7