Norman Lewis: Jumping Jive at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Explores Jazz and Abstraction

Key facts

• Norman Lewis: Jumping Jive is on view at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York from September 10 through November 14, 2026.
• The exhibition spans Lewis's career with paintings and drawings shaped by jazz, blues, classical, pop, and reggae.
• Norman Wilfred Lewis was born in New York in 1909 and grew up in Harlem.
• Lewis was the only Black artist of his generation to commit to abstraction early and sustain it throughout his life, according to his representing gallery.
• The show includes Untitled (Players Four) (1966) and the oil on canvas Jumping Jive (1942).
• Lewis's personal record collection is displayed, with DJ Adrian playing selections on Saturdays; the collection includes bebop, blues, disco, funk, and reggae.
• This is the seventh solo exhibition of Lewis's work presented by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, which has exclusively represented the artist's estate since 2014.
• The gallery has previously organized exhibitions focused on Lewis's drawings, broader career, and individual phases of his practice.