Jacob Lawrence: A Sequence in Two Collections

The historical arrangement

Lawrence made The Migration Series as sixty equal-size panels and developed its captions before painting.

In 1942 the Phillips Collection acquired the odd-numbered panels and MoMA the even-numbered ones. The split therefore follows alternating positions within a single sequence.

MoMA’s label also explains that Lawrence worked across the panels together for a consistent palette.

Reading only one holding in numerical order is a particular selection, not an equivalent way of encountering every step. A display can make that selection useful if it states what is absent. Ownership is a practical fact about access; it does not itself supply a new narrative order.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2] · [3]

Design an invented six-card exhibition

Use these original cards: 1, a family packs; 2, a train leaves; 3, a worker reads a notice; 4, an interview takes place; 5, neighbours prepare a room; 6, the family shares a meal. These are invented scenes, not Lawrence captions. Collection A owns 1, 3, 5; Collection B owns 2, 4, 6. A can borrow only one card. Choose a layout that clearly states its aim.

Produce two plans: a chronological route using all six numbered positions, and a three-card thematic group drawn only from A’s holding. For the first plan mark unborrowed positions as gaps rather than filling them with invented quotations. For the second write a heading that describes the selection without claiming it is the complete story.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2] · [3]

Reference answer: access changes the experience

One defensible chronological plan borrows 2 and displays 1, 2, 3,[gap 4], 5,[gap 6]. The departure is now continuous, while the interview and concluding meal remain identified absences. Borrowing 4 instead would privilege the notice/interview pair. The task has no uniquely best loan: explain the intended reading experience.

A thematic group of 1, 3, 5 might be headed Preparing, Seeking, Welcoming. It can connect three forms of anticipation, but that is the student curator’s argument. It must retain the original numbers and disclose that these are alternate positions. A new grouping should add a reason to look, not silently erase the sequence it selects from.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2] · [3]

A display note worth keeping

Write separate fields for original position, current collection and display order. If a loan arrives, update the last two fields as appropriate while preserving the first. This modest record design makes later changes reversible. It also lets a reader distinguish a genuine missing object, an absent loan and a deliberate curatorial omission.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2] · [3]