Artwork by Black artist donated to Bellevue

  • 2025-04-02
A lithograph Print by Jacob Lawrence, an artist known around the world, has been donated by Jerry and Charlene Lee, northwest philanthropists, to the city of Bellevue. This piece will be part of the public art collection of the city and displayed indoors, with its location still to be determined.

This piece is a quasi-expressionist, quasi-cubist, piece in a collage style that simplifies its subject of Black construction workers on a street in the city to dynamic essentials. It was created in 1991 and is one of several of Lawrence’s themes of builders as representations of progress.

News of such pieces donated to a city can be disseminated with flyer printing.

Lawrence grew up in Harlem in the 1930s and studied at the Harlem Art Workshop. He did not complete high school but taught himself about the history of Black people by spending a great deal of time at the library researching legendary Black events and figures that he could use in his paintings. He has created many series of paintings that document the stories of Black heroes such as John Brown and Harriet Tubman.

The Lees have been giving to the community for many years and the Association of Fundraising Professionals Advancement, Northwest Washington, named them Outstanding Philanthropists in 2015. Their donations have been eagerly accepted by the Bellevue Arts Commission.
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