LOIS MAILOU JONES

By Taylor Michael

Jones was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 3, 1905.

She first faced discrimination when she went into a store showing one of her fabric designs to introduce herself. The owner then said, “How could you have done that? You’re a colored girl.”

She worked as a professor of art at Howard University beginning in 1930.

She married Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel, a Haitian and talented graphic artist in 1953.

Facts

Facts, Continued The time they spent on the island of

Haiti influenced Lois’ use of new bright colors and more African themes.

Lois Mailou Jones had to mail in her artwork to many of the big art shows due to continuing discrimination. She won many of these awards and continued to send in her artwork until she found her place in the art world. She then let herself be known as who she was.

Jones was motivated to become an artist while spending summers on Martha’s Vineyard Island. There, she fell in love with all of the bright colors on the island. She then began drawing and painting.

When the owner in the store discriminated against her, she realized she needed to create her artwork that she could be recognized with.

Her father, being one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Suffolk Law School, gave her most of her drive, trying to succeed him.

Motivations

Influential Contemporaries Lois Mailou Jones became friends with her

neighbor, Dorothy West, when she was very young. They are life-long friends. Dorothy West is a Harlem Renaissance writer.

She collaborated with poet Langston Hughes to complete Parisian Beggar Woman.

Ascent of Ethiopia, 1932 Oil Painting

Jones won many awards for her artwork including the First Award at the National Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. She has also won several grants and a fellowship allowing her to paint in Paris, France.

Peasant Girl, Haiti 1954

She had a very successful teaching career, including teaching at Palmer Memorial Institute, a prep school for African-American youth, and being a professor at Howard University Art Department.

Les Fetiches 1938 Oil Painting

Her artwork has been shown in prestigious places such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. One of her works has even been placed in the White House.

Link For a little bit more

backround on Lois Mailou Jones and to see some of her artwork go to http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/jones1.html

Works Cited “A Life Of Artistic Expression: Artist Lois

Mailou Jones.” The Fine Arts Trader. 2009. Web. Feb 27, 2011. http://www.fineartstrader.com/ljones.htm

“Introduction.” Lois Mailou Jones. Chapman Pharmaceutical Consulting. 2011. Web. March 2, 2011. http://loismailoujones.com/introduction.html

“Timeline.” Lois Mailou Jones. Chapman Pharmaceutical Consulting. 2011. Web. March 1, 2011. http://loismailoujones.com/timeline.html