LOIS MAILOU JONES (1905-1998) "A lifetime of dedication to her craft and prodigious work have brought forth a wealth of style and subject matter in her art".
David Driskell
"CIRCUS TENTS" 1936, OIL on Canvas, 26 1/2 x 30 3/4 in.
LOIS MAILOU JONES PASSED QUIETLY IN HER SLEEP ON THE EVENING OF JUNE 9, 1998 TO THE OTHER SIDE - WE HAIL HER AND WISH HER HAPPINESS IN THE HEREAFTER - SHE JOINS THE OTHER GREATS - JAMES AMOS PORTER, DOROTHY PORTER WESLEY, CHARLES HARRIS WESLEY, JAMES LESENEE WELLS, ALAIN LOCKE, ALONZO ADEN, MODECAI JOHNSON, ARTHUR P. DAVIS, CARTER G. WOODSON, AND MANY MANY MORE ... Get your hands on the Washington Post, June 12, 1998 for more info.
A TRUBUTE RECEIVED
"Just read story of mrs. jones and would like the world to know that she
was not only a great artist but also a great person,teacher and giver of hope in a world sometimes filled with darkness. I was a student of hers from 1965 to 1970 at Howard U. You are already missed but you will live on though students like myself. At the
beginning of class she would do drawings of each class member and give it to the student. I have mine framed and will pass it on to my kids and tell them of the great person,teacher and friend you were to me, and others."- Harvey h. Boyd
"Washington, D.C., in the 1950s was little more than the seat of national government, with the atmosphere of a quiet southern city. There were few restaurants where people of color could dine with dignity, and few venues where artists of color could exhibit their work. From Lois Jones we learned that even though the color of our skin often determined how our art would be received, we need not allow this to stand in the way of our growth as artists."
Tritobia Benjamin, in her book The Life and Art of Lois Mailou Jones wrote "...Jones is a pioneering and masterful twentieth-century American artist who has surmounted prejudices and roadblocks without losing the vitality, warmth, and color that earmark her brilliant work."
Jones was born in Boston, Mass., in 1905. She studied at the Boston Normal Art School, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Columbia Univversity Teachers College in New York, and at the Academie Julien and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Her year in Paris was most fruitful in productivity and artristic personality development. She developed textile designs and created numerous illustrations. She has created masks and costumes and incorporated African iconography into her works.
She taught painting and related subjects for forty-seven years at Howard University's Department of Art. She illustrated several works published by he Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now known as the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) and, the Negro Associates group.
Her exhibitions include the Salon de Printemps in 1938. James A. Porter wrote "Her debut in the Paris art world had been made! But many other painters had also placed in this Salon. How then was her acceptance to be considered a triumph? By the tasteful elegance of her compositions and the rich impasto of her canvasses, and above all, the striking plangency of her color, it was evident that she was one of the leaders." Her first major retrospective was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1973. She has exhibited widely and has been the recipient of countless awards and accolades.
In 1953, she married Vergniaud Pierre-Noel, a noted Haitian graphic artist.
In Benjamin's book, Edmund Barry Gaither wrote "With Cosmopolitan flair, she has woven American, African-American, Caribbean, African, and European formal and thematic strains into a visual language of deceptive directness and striking beauty."
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS ARTIST WE SUGGEST YOU READ TRITOBIA BENJAMIN'S THE LIFE AND ART OF LOIS MAILOU JONES
AFRO-ART HISTORY 101......................................3
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