LOIS MAILOU JONES
Name: Lois Mailou Jones
Born: 3 November 1905
Died: 9 June 1998
Lois Mailou Jones (November 3, 1905 - June 9, 1998) was an African American
Harlem Renaissance painter. Lois Mailou Jones, born in 1905 in Boston,
Massachusetts, had a very big impact on African American artists. She was an
internationally acclaimed black artist, which was uncommon then.
She began her teaching career at Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina
while coaching a basketball team, teaching folk dancing, and playing the piano.
She also founded the art departments at Palmer Memorial Institute and Howard
University Washington D.C.
Lois Mailou Jones allowed art to define her life. She produced many paintings in
her lifetime. Others described her as very talented because of all her
accomplishments. In 1980, she was honored by President Jimmy Carter for
outstanding art achievements.
Dr. Jones is greatly remembered because she gave proof of the talent of black
artists. In her life she received honorary degrees from three universities and
has her work in seven different museums. Lois Mailou Jones was the first to
combine traditional African form with western techniques. Her impact as an early
African American artist will be greatly remembered.
Dr. Jones began painting as a child. "Every summer of my childhood, my mother
took me and my brother to Martha's Vineyard island. I began painting in
watercolor which even today is my pet medium."
In 1927, she was awarded a diploma in Design with honors and went on to do
graduate studies at prestigious schools in the U.S. and France. She received her
bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1945, graduating magna cum laude,
and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Suffolk University in Boston.
She also has received honorary degrees from Colorado State Christian University,
Massachusetts College of Art, and Howard University and was elected Fellow of
The Royal Society of Arts in London.
In 1937, on a general educational fellowship, she went to Paris for the first
time where she worked very hard producing 35 to 40 pieces during one year's time.
"The French were so inspiring. The people would stand and watch me and say mademoiselle,
you are so very talented. You are so wonderful. In other words, the color of my
skin didn't matter in Paris and that was one of the main reasons why I think I
was encouraged and began to really think I was talented."
In 1996, Jones paintings were featured in an exhibition entitled "Paris, the
City of Light" that appeared at several museums throughout the county including
the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Studio Museum
of Harlem. The exhibition also featured the works of Barbara Chase-Riboud,
Edward Clark, Harold Cousins, Beauford Delaney, Herbert Gentry, and Larry Potter.
The exhibition examined the importance of Paris as an artistic mecca for African-American
artists during the 20 years that followed World War II.
While developing her own work as an artist, Jones also spent many years teaching
and encouraging others. She began her teaching career at the Palmer Memorial
Institute in North Carolina making $1,000 a year, where she set up an entire art
department while coaching a basketball team, teaching folk dancing, and playing
piano for Sunday church services. She was asked to join the faculty at Howard
University in Washington, D.C. in 1930, where she became one of the founders of
the art department and remained as professor of design and watercolor painting
until her retirement in 1977.
The exhibit will feature the four periods of Jones's art the American paintings,
the France paintings, the Haitian paintings, and the African paintings. Jones
traveled widely and studied and lived for periods of time in different parts of
the world which her paintings reflect. She has produced work that echoes her
pride in her African roots and American ancestry. She combines traditional
African forms with Western techniques and materials to create a vibrant and
compelling work in many of her pieces.
Married to Haitian artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel in 1953, Jones traveled
and lived in Haiti. In many of her pieces one can see the influence of the
Haitian culture, with its African influences, which reinvigorated the way she
looked at the world. Her work became more abstract and hard-edged, after her
marriage to Pierre-Noel. Her impressionist techniques gave way to a spirited,
richly patterned, and brilliantly colored style. Further travels to eleven
African countries enabled Jones to synthesize a body of designs and motifs that
she combined in large, complex compositions.
In 1980, she was honored by President Jimmy Carter at the White House for
outstanding achievements in the arts. Her paintings grace the permanent
collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art,
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Portrait Gallery, Boston Museum
of Fine Arts, the National Palace in Haiti, and the National Museum of Afro-American
Artists,.
In her nineties, Jones still paints. She feels that her greatest contribution to
the art world has been "proof of the talent of black artists. The African-American
artist is important in the history of art and I have demonstrated it by working
and painting here and all over the world."
Name: Lois Mailou Jones
Born: 3 November 1905
Died: 9 June 1998
Lois Mailou Jones (November 3, 1905 - June 9, 1998) was an African American
Harlem Renaissance painter. Lois Mailou Jones, born in 1905 in Boston,
Massachusetts, had a very big impact on African American artists. She was an
internationally acclaimed black artist, which was uncommon then.
She began her teaching career at Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina
while coaching a basketball team, teaching folk dancing, and playing the piano.
She also founded the art departments at Palmer Memorial Institute and Howard
University Washington D.C.
Lois Mailou Jones allowed art to define her life. She produced many paintings in
her lifetime. Others described her as very talented because of all her
accomplishments. In 1980, she was honored by President Jimmy Carter for
outstanding art achievements.
Dr. Jones is greatly remembered because she gave proof of the talent of black
artists. In her life she received honorary degrees from three universities and
has her work in seven different museums. Lois Mailou Jones was the first to
combine traditional African form with western techniques. Her impact as an early
African American artist will be greatly remembered.
Dr. Jones began painting as a child. "Every summer of my childhood, my mother
took me and my brother to Martha's Vineyard island. I began painting in
watercolor which even today is my pet medium."
In 1927, she was awarded a diploma in Design with honors and went on to do
graduate studies at prestigious schools in the U.S. and France. She received her
bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1945, graduating magna cum laude,
and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Suffolk University in Boston.
She also has received honorary degrees from Colorado State Christian University,
Massachusetts College of Art, and Howard University and was elected Fellow of
The Royal Society of Arts in London.
In 1937, on a general educational fellowship, she went to Paris for the first
time where she worked very hard producing 35 to 40 pieces during one year's time.
"The French were so inspiring. The people would stand and watch me and say mademoiselle,
you are so very talented. You are so wonderful. In other words, the color of my
skin didn't matter in Paris and that was one of the main reasons why I think I
was encouraged and began to really think I was talented."
In 1996, Jones paintings were featured in an exhibition entitled "Paris, the
City of Light" that appeared at several museums throughout the county including
the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Studio Museum
of Harlem. The exhibition also featured the works of Barbara Chase-Riboud,
Edward Clark, Harold Cousins, Beauford Delaney, Herbert Gentry, and Larry Potter.
The exhibition examined the importance of Paris as an artistic mecca for African-American
artists during the 20 years that followed World War II.
While developing her own work as an artist, Jones also spent many years teaching
and encouraging others. She began her teaching career at the Palmer Memorial
Institute in North Carolina making $1,000 a year, where she set up an entire art
department while coaching a basketball team, teaching folk dancing, and playing
piano for Sunday church services. She was asked to join the faculty at Howard
University in Washington, D.C. in 1930, where she became one of the founders of
the art department and remained as professor of design and watercolor painting
until her retirement in 1977.
The exhibit will feature the four periods of Jones's art the American paintings,
the France paintings, the Haitian paintings, and the African paintings. Jones
traveled widely and studied and lived for periods of time in different parts of
the world which her paintings reflect. She has produced work that echoes her
pride in her African roots and American ancestry. She combines traditional
African forms with Western techniques and materials to create a vibrant and
compelling work in many of her pieces.
Married to Haitian artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel in 1953, Jones traveled
and lived in Haiti. In many of her pieces one can see the influence of the
Haitian culture, with its African influences, which reinvigorated the way she
looked at the world. Her work became more abstract and hard-edged, after her
marriage to Pierre-Noel. Her impressionist techniques gave way to a spirited,
richly patterned, and brilliantly colored style. Further travels to eleven
African countries enabled Jones to synthesize a body of designs and motifs that
she combined in large, complex compositions.
In 1980, she was honored by President Jimmy Carter at the White House for
outstanding achievements in the arts. Her paintings grace the permanent
collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art,
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Portrait Gallery, Boston Museum
of Fine Arts, the National Palace in Haiti, and the National Museum of Afro-American
Artists,.
In her nineties, Jones still paints. She feels that her greatest contribution to
the art world has been "proof of the talent of black artists. The African-American
artist is important in the history of art and I have demonstrated it by working
and painting here and all over the world."