Lois Mailou Jones: Who Is She?

Born in Boston to a family of high achievers, Lois worked extra hard and triple time to accomplish a distinguished profession as an internationally acclaimed artist. She won scholarships as a child to attend the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and she was mentored by the stars of the Harlem Renaissance who were her neighbors at the family summer home in Oak Bluffs, a community on Martha’s Vineyard.

Lois Mailou Jones faced the challenges of submitting her work to art institutions that were racially prejudiced during a time when racial segregation and discrimination were pervasive in the USA. Despite these obstacles, she found ways to have her work recognized and exhibited. She worked as an educator and ilustrator in addition to her studio practice. A pivotal moment was her year in France where she studied at the Academie Julian and made a life long friend of Celine Tabary.

She had a notable teaching career and mentored several now famous students during her time as an art educator. Her marriage to a prominent Haitian artist brought her directly into the Caribbean, which was a profound lesson in the African Diaspora and a stylistic change. Lois then went on to travel to a dozen different countries in Africa. She interviewed and photographed art and artists to build a hugely valuable resource that the Smithsonian bid for. Her collection was left to Howard University, where she taught for 47 years.

She won many awards and was invited to the White House by nine US presidents . Eisenhower commissioned her , and the Clintons collected her landscapes.

Buy the zine now to learn how she did it all, and to enjoy a sampling of her amazing artworks.