参考译文：

由雅各布.劳伦斯创作的系列移民画反映了美国历史的一个重要时期

本周，我们向你介绍一组由非裔美国艺术家雅各布.劳伦斯创作的美国重要的历史系列画，这位现代画家在创作这组系列画时只有24岁，而这一组历史系列画使他闻名全国。这组系列画共有六十张，最近这组系列画在华盛顿特区菲利浦收藏馆展出。在今天所展出的这些技艺高超的绘画作品，仍然与六十年前雅各布.劳伦斯创作这些绘画一样富有表情和充满意味。

雅各布.劳伦斯创作的移民系列画既是绘画艺术技巧的完美范例，也是一部美国的历史教课书。大约从1900年开始，数以千计的居住在美国南方农村的非裔美国人开始向北方的工业城市迁移，许多非裔美国人为了逃避种族歧视、经济恶化和所面临的农业问题而离开他们在南方的家。1914年开始的第一次世界大战使得北方的工厂需要更多的劳动力。

据估计，在这一历史时期，为了寻求更好的工作，大约有一百万非裔美国人从南方来到了北方，他们涌向大城市，如纽约市、宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡、伊利诺斯州的芝加哥和密歇根州的底特律等。这种人口的迁移给南方的经济和社会带来很大的影响。雅各布.劳伦斯与这次人口大迁移有其个人的关系。在他出生之前，他的父母就从南方迁移到新泽西州的大西洋市，后来又迁移到了宾夕法尼亚州的费城。

埃尔莎.史密斯高尔是菲利浦收藏馆的助理馆长，她组织了这次雅各布.劳伦斯系列画的展出。下面，她谈到了雅各布.劳伦斯移民系列画的重要性。埃尔莎.史密斯高尔：“它确实敲开我们仍然与之有关的这样一个普遍的主题，我们考虑有关奋斗、毅力和应变能力的主题，而且这些品质确实仍然存留在我们今天这个国家的移民的内心里。在当今的世界里，估计有二亿移民。关于这组系列画，有一个可以肯定，那就是它超越了它所处的时代，它反映了一个重要的历史时期，而且，与此同时，它还为我们现在以及我们对未来的思考提供了大量的信息。”

在1930年，那时雅各布还只有十三岁，他的母亲带着他和他的弟妹来到了纽约市的黑人居住区。在二十世纪三十年代期间，劳伦斯开始和艺术家查尔斯.阿尔斯顿一起学习艺术。刚开始，他在乌托邦儿童之家上课，后来，他在黑人艺术工作室上课。黑人艺术工作室是由“工作促进总署”(即WPA，是罗斯福新政中的一项措施，目的在于促进就业)支持兴办的，这个联邦政府机构雇用人们从事公共事业和其他工程。

在1938年，雅各布.劳伦斯开始为工作促进总署工作，他创作了好几组历史系列画，这些历史系列画反映了非裔美国人历史中一些重要人物和重要历史事件，这些系列画包括< The Life of Frederick Douglass>(弗雷德里克.道格拉斯的一生)和< The Life of Harriet Tubman>(哈里特.塔布曼的一生)。

在1940年，雅各布.劳伦斯从朱利叶斯.罗斯瓦尔多基金会那得到一笔支助，这项支助的项目就是画六十张板画，这六十张系列板画就叫< The Migration of the Negro>(黑人移民)。在有了这1500美元的支助，劳伦斯建了一个画室，这个画室完全可以同时摆下他所要画的六十张板画。他在黑人居住区的索姆堡收藏馆进行深入细致地调查，以便更好地理解在那个黑人移民时期人们的经历。

劳伦斯采用一种特殊的方法来创作这一组系列画。首先，他将六十张画所要反映的内容写下来，然后，他准备开始画了。当他要画时，他在所有的画板上同时开始绘画。例如，他要在六十张板画上都用上褐色和黑色，然后再继续使用别的颜色。他之所以这样做，目的就是为了让这六十张板画有着同样的基调。雅各布.劳伦斯给这组系列画加上标题，并于1992年给这组系列画附加说明。

在黑人移民系列画中，每一张画的尺寸大约是30*45cm，劳伦斯将蛋彩画颜料或广告颜料放在一张硬纸板上进行创作，他之所以选择这些颜料是因为这些颜料的成本很低，而且，劳伦斯直接将这些纯正的颜色用于作品的表面，以达到一种大胆而且充满活力的效果。

黑人移民系列画从一张反映一大群黑人站在公共汽车站或火车站的等车线上的板画开始，这群人穿着各色的帽子和衣服，他们正站在等车线内，这里写着他们要去的城市的名字。在这张板画下面写着：“在第一次世界大战期间，美国有大量的非裔美国人从南方迁移到北方。”雅各布.劳伦斯的风格非常大胆和直接，他的人物形象并不准确或细致，相反，他的人物形象所展示的是给人一种在移动的感觉，他用简单但富有表情的形式讲述了一个完整的故事。

移民系列画继续通过一张张板画反映了这些黑人在南方的生活状况，你可以看到能够对棉花作物产生严重损害的虫子和洪水，你可以了解到在战争期间食品价格的高涨，这使得那些生活在南方农场的贫穷黑人的生活更加艰难。

埃尔莎.史密斯高尔为我们讲述她在一张板画上的特有发现。埃尔莎.史密斯高尔：“我们正在注视的这张板画是第十七号板画，这张画的说明是‘战争已经使食品价格上涨了一倍，这使得穷人的生活更加艰难。’而且这张板画暗示，正是贫穷刺激了黑人移民。”

在这张板画中，一位妇女站在一张桌子边上正在切肉，与此同时，有一个小男孩正睁着大眼睛看着她。史密斯高尔解释说，雅各布选择这样一种肉的意思是为了表达这样一种意思：这肉很肥，这是猪肉中最便宜的那部分。这两个人站在一间除了一张桌子和墙上挂有一盏烛灯以外什么也没有的房间里。这个情景非常简单，但很有表现力。

埃尔莎.史密斯高尔：“他通过颜色生动地表现了整个场面，你注意到这个房间里的墙壁是绿色的，而妇女穿的是有趣的红色衣服，所以，要不是被这种生活困境所破坏的话，这个情景还是比较漂亮的。”

这组系列画通过不断重复移民乘坐火车涌向北方大城市的情景继续着，你可以看到移民找到工作的工厂，你还可以看到在黑人迁移后南方社会的情景。第三十三张板画上写到：“北方的亲戚来信告诉他们说，那里的生活更好。”这张画反映了一位妇女和她的孩子躺在一张很大的绿床上，这位妇女正在读这封信。作者从一个鲜明的角度描绘了这个场景，好像是从她的床头板后注视着这位妇女似的。

这个系列画还反映了黑人移民在南方和北方新的环境中都面临的种族歧视问题。在第四十九号板画中，你可以看到一个就餐区，在那里，黑人与白人被一面黄色栅栏所隔开。第五十九号板画讲述的是在北方，黑人有了选举的自由，你可以看到一群人正在一个投票中心那有序地等待投票。

黑人移民系列画立即得到世界艺术界的强烈关注，在1941年这组系列画完成之后，雅各布.劳伦斯带着他的新妻子—--艺术家格温多林.耐特来到了路易斯安那州的新奥尔良，正是在这，他们得知劳伦斯的这组系列画中有26张画已经在<财富杂志>出版。后来，这组完整的系列画在纽约市区画廊展出。雅各布.劳伦斯成为在纽约市商业艺术画廊展出其作品的第一位非裔美国人，纽约市区画廊是美国主要的商业艺术画廊。

不久，艺术爱好者阿黛尔.罗斯瓦尔多.利维以一千美元的价格买下了这组系列画的所有偶数号的画，她把这些画送给了纽约市的现代艺术博物馆。菲利浦收藏馆以同样的价格买下了这组系列画中所有奇数的画。因为劳伦斯在他的这组系列画中，只用三十张就清楚地讲述了一个完整的故事，而另外三十张板画所表达的是同样的内容。

由于这两个博物馆各自拥有这组系列画的一半，因此，想在一个地方看到这组完整的系列画是件非常罕见而又特殊的事情。在他晚年，雅各布.劳伦斯说他没有将黑人移民系列画创作成一个政治话题，他说，这只是他生活的一部分，也是他的朋友及其家人生活的一部分。雅各布.劳伦斯说，他希望这组系列画能够反映人类的经历和生存状况。他的黑人移民系列画是用艺术家的手法讲述了一段美国重要的历史，他是美国最伟大的画家之一。

简评：

发生在上世纪初的美国黑人大迁移令人印象深刻。这次大迁移对于美国黑人来说，是第一次自由地移民，因为在此以前，他们都是当作奴隶被别人贩卖而到美国的。是美国的南北战争，是林肯的奴隶解放宣言，解放了美国黑人奴隶。美国黑人得到了解放，他们才有权利自由地从南方向北方移民。

这不得不使我想起了我们国家，解放后，我们国家实行户籍制度。正是由于这个户籍制度，使得我们广大农民被牢牢地固定在农村；正是这个户籍制度，使得一些出生在小城市的人被牢牢地固定在小城市中；正是这个户籍制度，使得人们自由就业面临各种难以回避的问题；正是由于户籍制度，造成了我们城乡的二元社会；正是由于户籍制度，使得我们国家形成了巨大的社会不公平。这种巨大的社会不公平又被以户籍制度为核心的法律制度所固定。而这种巨大的不公平，正在给我们国家的人民，给我们国家的经济和社会发展带来巨大的障碍；这种巨大的不公平给我们国家带来了巨大的社会不稳定因素。

也许在刚解放时，实行户籍制度能够起到我们所期望的作用。但到现在，时间已经过去近六十年，我们国家的经济、文化和社会都发生了巨大的变化，人民的思想观念也已经发生了巨大的变化，我们真的应该好好审视我们国家的户籍制度。为了我们中华民族的伟大复兴，我们有理由尽最大能力来消除存在于我们社会的各种形式的不公平。而要做到这一点，就应该从户籍制度改革开始。

'The Migration Series' by Jacob Lawrence Shows an Important Period in American History 

This week we tell about an important series of historical paintings created by the African-American artist Jacob Lawrence. This modernist painter was only twenty-four when his Migration Series made him nationally famous. All sixty paintings in this series are currently being shown at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. These skillful works are as expressive and meaningful today as they were when Jacob Lawrence first painted them over sixty years ago. 

The Migration Series by Jacob Lawrence is as much a history lesson as it is a shining example of artistic skill. Starting around nineteen ten, thousands of African-Americans living in the rural southern part of the United States began to move, or migrate, to northern industrial cities. Many African-Americans left their homes in the South to escape discrimination, a worsening economy, and agricultural problems. The beginning of World War One in nineteen fourteen created an even larger demand for workers in the factories of the North. 

It is estimated that over a million African-Americans moved north during this period to seek better jobs. They moved to cities like New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan. This movement of people had a big effect on the economy and communities of the South.  Jacob Lawrence had a personal connection with the Great Migration. Before he was born, his own parents moved from the South to Atlantic City, New Jersey, then later to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Elsa Smithgall is the associate curator at the Phillips who organized this show on Jacob Lawrence. Here, she talks about the importance of his Migration Series. ELSA SMITHGALL: "It really taps such universal themes that we still can really relate to. We think about themes of struggle, and perseverance and resilience, and these qualities that really are still at the heart of the immigrant experience in this country today. We have over two hundred million migrants estimated in the world today. One of the things about the series is that it transcends its own time. It is important historically, but at the same time it very much informs our present and our thinking about the future."  

In nineteen thirty, when Jacob was thirteen, his mother moved him and his brother and sister to the Harlem area of New York City. During the nineteen thirties Lawrence began taking art classes with the artist Charles Alston. First he took classes at the Utopia Children's House, then later at the Harlem Art Workshop. The Workshop was supported by the Works Progress Administration, or W.P.A. This federal government agency employed people to work on public buildings and other projects.

In nineteen thirty-eight Jacob Lawrence began working for the W.P.A. He created several series of historical paintings that show important people and events in African-American history. These include "The Life of Frederick Douglass" and "The Life of Harriet Tubman."  

In nineteen forty, Jacob Lawrence received a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. His proposed project was to paint sixty panels called "The Migration of the Negro."  With the fifteen hundred dollar grant, Lawrence found a studio that was big enough for him to be able to lay out the sixty works at the same time. He did a great deal of research at the Schomburg Collection in Harlem to better understand the experiences of people who lived during the migration. 

Lawrence used a special method to work on this series. First, he wrote out the text that would describe the sixty paintings. Then, he prepared drawings. When it was time to paint, he worked on all the panels at the same time. For example, he would apply the brown and black colors to all sixty panels before continuing on to the next color. He did this so that all of the paintings would have a visual unity. Jacob Lawrence updated the title of this series and its captions in nineteen ninety-two. 

Each painting in the Migration Series measures about thirty by forty-five centimeters. Lawrence worked with tempera paints or poster paints on a hardboard material. He chose these paints because they were low in cost. And Lawrence applied these pure colors directly onto the work surface to achieve a bold and energetic effect.

The Migration Series starts with a panel showing a large crowd of African-Americans in line at a bus or train station. The people in the crowd wear different colored hats and clothing. They are waiting in line under signs that show the name of the city where they are going. The words under this panel read: "During World War One there was a great migration North by Southern African-Americans."   Jacob Lawrence's style is very bold and direct. His figures are not exact or detailed. Instead, they are stylized to suggest emotion and movement. He told a complex story using simple but expressive forms.

The Migration Series continues with panels that show the living conditions of African-Americans in the South. You learn about the insects and flooding which severely damaged cotton crops. You learn about the increased price of food during the war, which made life even more difficult for poor southern farmers.

Elsa Smithgall describes for us one panel she finds especially expressive.  ELSA SMITHGALL: "The panel we're looking at is number eleven. The caption reads 'The War had doubled the cost of food, making life even harder for the poor.' And, this panel is to suggest the impact that poverty played in stimulating the migration." 

In the painting, a woman stands at a table cutting a piece of meat while a thin little boy watches her actions with big eyes. Miz Smithgall explained the meaning of the kind of meat Jacob Lawrence chose to represent. It is fatback, one of the least costly cuts of pork meat. The two stand together in a room empty except for a table and candlelight hanging on the wall. The scene is very simple, but very emotionally expressive. 

ELSA SMITHGALL: "He enlivens the entire scene with the color and the choice of color. And you notice there is a green wall and the woman is wearing this lovely red dress. So that there is a sense of creating some beauty within an otherwise very devastating kind of situation of life." 

The series continues with repeated images of migrants moving on trains towards the big northern cities. You see scenes of the factories where the migrants found work. And the southern communities they left behind. Panel thirty-three reads: "Letters from relatives in the North told of the better life there."   It shows a woman and her child in a big green bed. The woman is reading a letter. The scene is painted from a striking angle. It is as though the viewer was looking at the woman from the headboard of her bed.

The series also shows examples of discrimination the migrants faced both in their lives in the South and in their new lives in the North.       In panel forty-nine, you see an eating area in which black people are separated from white people by a yellow barrier. Panel fifty-nine describes that in the North, African-Americans had the freedom to vote. You can see a group waiting in line at a voting center.  

The Migration Series immediately received great attention from the art world. After completing the works in nineteen forty-one, Jacob Lawrence traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, with his new wife, artist Gwendolyn Knight. This was their first visit to the South. It was there that they learned that twenty-six of Lawrence's paintings from the series were published in Fortune magazine. Later, there was an exhibit of the entire series at the Downtown Gallery in New York City. Jacob Lawrence became the first African-American to be represented by a major New York City commercial art gallery.

Soon, the arts supporter Adele Rosenwald Levy bought the even numbered panels for one thousand dollars. She gave the works to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Phillips Collection bought the odd number panels for the same amount of money. Because Lawrence repeated subjects in the series, it still tells a clear story with only thirty of the panels.

Since two museums each own half of the series, it is a rare and special event to see the entire series exhibited in one place. Later in his life, Jacob Lawrence said he did not create the Migration Series to make a political statement. He said it was just a part of his life and a part of the lives of his friends and family. Jacob Lawrence said that he hoped the series would show what human beings can experience and survive. His Migration Series tells an important part of American history using the artistic skill of one of America's great painters. 

 http://www.wwenglish.com/m07/voa/spec/2008/07/wwenglish.com_tia080707.mp3