biografía de Lois Mailou JONES (1905-1998)

Lugar de nacimiento: Boston, MA

Direcciones: Wash., DC

Profesión: Painter, designer, illustrator, educator, commercial artist

Estudios: Boston Normal Art Sch.; BMFA Sch. with Philip Hale (scholar, 4 years); Designers Art Sch.; Harvard Univ.; Teachers Col., Columbia Univ. (A.B.); Howard Univ.; Acad. Julian, Paris with Berges, Montezin, Maury, and Adler, 1937-38; Acad. Grande Chaumière, Paris; Rome.

Exposiciones: BMFA Sch., 1926 (prize); Wash. Art Gld., 1929-58; Harmon Fnd., 1930-31; Wash. WCC, 1931-36, 1939-65; PAFA, 1934-36, 1938; CAA traveling exh., 1934; Texas Centennial, 1936; Howard Univ., 1937 (solo), 1961, 1963 (solo), 1972 (retrospective); Salon des Artistes, Paris, 1938-39; Gal. Charpentier, Paris, 1938; Soc. Wash. Artists, 1938-43, 1945-46, 1959-65; PAFA Ann., 1939; BMA, 1939-40, 1944; Vose Gal., 1939 (solo); Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1939, 1951; 8th Ann Area Exhib., Corcoran Gal., 1953 (oil painting award); other Corcoran Gal. exh., 1941 (Robert Woods Bliss prize, see comment section); Nat. Mus., Wash., DC, 1940 (prize); PMG, 1941-42, 1944-45; Whyte Gal., 1941-44, 1948 (solo); Inst. Mod. Art, Boston, 1943; NAD, 1942, 1944; AWCS, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964; Am.-British AC, 1944; Albany Inst. Hist. & Art, 1945; Barnett Aden Gal., 1946; Dupont Theatre, 1951 (solo); Haiti, 1954 (solo); Pan-Am. Union, 1955 (solo); ACA Gal., NYC; Grand Central Art Gals., NYC; Am. Univ.; Salisbury (Rhodesia) Mus., 1960; Galerie Int., NYC, 1961 (solo); Grumbacher Traveling, 1965-67; Rhodes Nat. Gal., So. Rhodesia; Trenton Mus., NJ; SFMA; Salon Artistes Françaises, Grand Palais Champs-…lysées, Paris. Other awards: Gen. Educ. Bd. foreign fellow for study in France & Italy, 1937-38; Chevalier, Nat. Order Merit of Honor, Govt. Haiti for achievement in art.

Asociaciones: Vineyard Haven (MA) Art Gld.; Am. Artists Congress; Soc. Indep. Artists, France; AWCS; Wash. Art Gld.; Wash. WCC; Soc. Wash. Artists; Royal Soc. Arts, London (fellow, 1963); AEA; Art Dirs. Cl. Metrop. Wash.; Nat. Conf. Artists (lst vice-pres.).

Obra: Howard Univ.; CGA; PMG; Int. Fair Gal., Izrmir, Turkey; Univ. Punjab, Pakistan; Palais Nat., Haiti; Atlanta Univ.; West Virginia State Col.; Rosenwald Fnd.; Retreat for Foreign Missionaries, Wash., DC (mural); Barnett Aden Gal.; mural, Cook Hall, Howard Univ.; NYPL (135th Street Branch); H.S. Practical Art, Boston; Brooklyn Mus; Am. Embassy, Luxembourg.

Comentarios: One of the most important African American women painters and teachers of the 20th century. At the beginning of her career, Jones worked as a designer and made frequent trips to NYC, meeting leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, including Countee Cullen, Claude McKay and others. A fellowship to study in Paris in 1937 introduced her to modern French art and she began painting impressionist landscapes and CÈzanne-like portraits and still-lifes, also joining the art circle of Emile Bernard. On returning to the U.S. in 1938, she continued to paint landscapes but also took the advice of Alain Locke and began drawing her subject matter from African American life. In 1941, Jones asked a white friend to submit an impressionist landscape (Indian Shops, Gay Head") by Jones to a Corcoran Gallery competition, knowing that many museums would not include work by black artists. Jones' work won the competition but the artist did not claim credit for the work until over two years later. She traveled to Haiti in 1954 with her husband, Haitian artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel. There Jones painted a series on Haitian life, and frequently returned to Haiti thereafter. In 1970-71, she spent a sabbatical year (from Howard Univ.) in Africa and traveled to 14 countries, making slides to help create a comprehensive archive of black artists at Howard University. She also painted from her experiences there, incorporating African themes and images into her paintings. Jones was a distinguished teacher, having taught for over 45 years at Howard Univ. (1930-77, thereafter as Prof. Emeritus). Among her students were Elizabeth Catlett and Alma Thomas. Illustrator: The Picture Poetry Book, by Helen Whiting; Negro Folk Tales, by Helen Whiting, and other books & periodicals.

Fuentes: WW73; WW47; WW66; Rubinstein, American Women Artists, 226-27; Edmund Barry Gaither, Reflective Moments: Lois Mailou Jones, Retrospective 1930-1972 (exh. cat., Boston: Mus. for the National Ctr. of Afro-American Artists and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1973); Lois Mailou Jones Peintures: 1937-1951 (Georges Frère, Tourcoing, France, 1952); Cedric Dover, American Negro Art (NY Graphic Soc., 1960); Samella S. Lewis & Ruth G. Waddy, Black Artists on Art, (Contemp Crafts Publ., Vol I, 1969); Elsa H. Fine, The Afro-American Artist: A Search for Identity (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1972); Falk, Exh. Record Series. "

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