Jacob Lawrence, Tombstones, 1942

Narrator: Tombstones, from 1942, is a vertical opaque watercolor painting on paper showing a street scene with nine Black people who have the same dark skin tone at various points along a diagonal staircase in front of a building. It is just over 22 inches tall and 30 inches wide. It is hung on a red wall, which faces diagonally towards the windows on the left side of the gallery. There is a stylized representation of depth that gives the background a solid, flat appearance while the variation of angles in the foreground moves the eye around the composition. The people have minimal features yet expressive postures and perches within the composition.

The muted earthy red building facade contrasts with the bright color of the windows and people’s clothing. A young boy in suspenders holds the railing at the bottom of the stairs. In the middle of the staircase, a woman sits in an orange dress, hands folded over her lap looking sullen. To the right, just above, a man in a black suit and black hat leans on the railing with both hands appearing to converse with a woman leaning out of the window in a dark green dress between red drapes. To her right is another window where two wavy plants appear; one which dons a single red flower.

At the top of the staircase, a woman stands in the doorway in a red dress, orange stockings and green shoes leaning with one arm against the door frame and the other hand on her hip. A jagged black shadow or pattern snakes down the left side of her dress. To her left is another window where a woman in a light green dress leans with both of her hands on the sill. Both women appear to look down toward the bottom of the staircase. In all of the windows and doors the background is blue with white masses like clouds creating the impression that the building could be full of sky.

New life and death reckon with each other at the forefront of the painting. On the footpath in front of the building which is at the bottom of the image, a very young child in a red stroller reaches forward for a white doll which has fallen on the ground. On the low wall, a second woman in a red dress, orange stockings, and green shoes holds a baby swaddled in green cloth to her face. Just inside of the low wall between the street and the building, there are ten tombstones, like a small cemetery. They range in color including black, white, and green and vary in shape including pointed tops, rounded shoulders, crosses, or rectangles. Some feature engravings of flowers or figures. Behind the tombstones is a double door under a sign protruding from the building with thin white hand-lettering that reads “TOMBSTONES” in capital letters.