LOIS MAILOU JONES-PIERRE NOEL

BHM---2008 UNSUNG HEROES- LOIS MAILOU JONES-PIERRE NOEL

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BHM-2008- Lois Mailou Jones- Pierre Noel

In addition to journalists and the many students being dropped for the weekly Artistic Rotation on any Saturday at Tiga’s house/atelier in Port-au-Prince, you never know who those extra cars parked out front belong to till you actually walk in or step in the backyard. From local artists, old friends, world’s diplomats and international leaders---it is like walking right into an adventure.

This particular Saturday there was a visitor I never met, she was having a birthday-she was the wife of an old artist friend of Tiga.

For years I have heard about her from my dad-she had sponsored his very first ceramic exhibit in the United States back in the early 70's at Howard University. It was for me an exciting day-I have followed her work for years and I was pleased to chat at length and photograph her…for hours.

Lois is the daughter of the first African-American to graduate from Boston's Suffolk Law School- Thomas Vreeland Jones. She was born in 1905 and she thanks her mom for having given her the bug at an early age fueling her interests in art and world culture.

She also is grateful for the time she spent studying at Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, Columbia University and later on at Howard University. In 1917, her dream came true graduating with a teaching degree.

In 1927, she received a diploma in Design with honors. She received in 1945 her bachelor’s degree from Howard University, graduating magna cum laude. She was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Suffolk University in Boston. More honorary degrees were given to her- Colorado State, Christian University, Massachusetts College of Art, and Howard University. She is also a ‘Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts in London.

In retrospect--- the time did not prove easy even on Jones-a very talented but black young lady…racial prejudice was not in her favor and it was clear to her that she would not be able to teach anywhere. As a matter of fact even-her application to teach at The Boston Museum School of Fine Arts was rejected. Go figure…

In her want to work, she decided to go somewhere less harsh-New York City became home. And-eventually relocated to North Carolina for a teaching position at the where she was drafted in 1928 by Palmer Memorial Institute in 1928.

Her visual impact when paused on can be translated in many period or phase as she puts it.
-The African-Americans works of early 1930’s.
-French and city landscapes, her studies on the body and Haitian scenes-1950s and 1960s.
-In 1930, when Jones at Howard University, her official artistic career began; and her works reflected her familiarity with racism and a close witness of the Harlem Renaissance.

Paris in 1931 attracted many artists and writers so Lois Mailou Jones headed there where she attended the Julian Academy and took painting. Easily merging into the culture, she learned French and made it home.

In a year time while there, she painted close to forty pieces. She was pleased to live and work there-her skin color did not matter.

Her fascination with Afro-art got her to take interests in Haiti. Her paintings were very much influenced by the scenes she saw in Haiti where she lived for a while with her husband. She met and befriended Tiga. One thing was very obvious---her art became more abstract after her association with Tiga.

But-she had more than an artistic interest for the country and its art. While attending Columbia University she had met and fell in love with a young man. A talented and well known artist himself-Lois married Louis Vergniaud Pierre Noel in the South of France in 1953. They did not have any children, they traveled intensively. Their wonderful twenty-nine years of marriage was cut short when Vergniaud died. She never remarried.

By the way-for those of you like me philatelists… one of the nicest United States stamps showing John F Kennedy over a Flag was drawn by him. I treasure that stamp…

She confided one of her proudest moment was when Haiti's government made her a ‘Chevalier of the National Order of Honor and Merit.’

She turned eighty the day I met. I found her magical! Full of life and so-captivating, we chatted as I shot so many pictures of her…

Jones painted a lot even in her mid nineties. She favors to work in oils and watercolors…and-it is apparent that her love for Africa and masks are predominant in most of her art.

One of the best known pieces studied in African studies art class has been- ‘Les Fetiches.’ In the piece one can spot five distinct masks. She joked hysterically hinting this specific piece is the ancestors’ biography.

She has exhibited in the most prestigious museums and galleries of the world.
In 1980, she was honored by President Jimmy Carter at the White House for excellent achievements in the arts. Her work is part of collections of well known like:’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.'

She hopes to have in her work and life contributed to art and artists engaging them into a field of dream unlike any other…sharing also the importance of African American stand in the history of art.

Lois died in 1998 at age 93.

"It has been wonderful to have had this career and to be where I am at this time and have it finally arrive. Hopefully I’ve inspired some of the young artists to love their work as much as I have loved my career. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m still living to see the works arrive."

Indeed, indeed Lois- I will never forget the day you turned 80 at KAY TIGA!








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