The present work is the first of two maquettes for a mural Jacob Lawrence designed for the Times Square subway station in New York, which was his last public work. The mural was commisioned in 1991 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit program. The final design was installed as a 36 feet wide mosaic tile work by Miotto Mosaics, Inc. in 2001, where it still hangs on the mezzannine level near the Shuttle train. Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence worked closely on the mural installation after the artist's passing.
“We tend to deprecate art. We don’t appreciate art. Jazz musicians starve to death. […] Same for our painters. […] Part of our work is to honor these so deserving people. And Jacob, he deserves our highest regard. He’s up there in the pantheon of the greats of American art and culture.” – Rev. Jesse Jackson, in an interview with Christie’s, February 2014.
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The work is hinged in four places from the reverse along the upper edege. On the reverse there are remnants of tape and adhesive from a prior presentation along the extreme edges. The extreme left and right edges of the paper are uneven. The paper appears to be slightly buckled. The margins contain the artist's notations in pencil. There is a thin horizontal surface scratch about 3 inches long in the upper center and a thin diagonal surface scratch about 4 inches in the lower left quardrant. There is some soiling to the paper in the margins and the paper appears slightly toned throughout. There is a 4 x 23¼ in. intentionally removed portion of paper in the margin along the lower edge.