Lois Mailou Jones

Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998) was an artist from Boston, Massachusetts. She studied design at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, graduating in 1927. She received her graduate degree in design from the Design Art School of Boston in 1928. She designed textiles professionally before deciding to focus on painting after attending summer classes at Howard University. She taught at the Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina where she founded the art department. She was later recruited by Howard University in Washington, D.C. to join their art department where she trained several generations of artists. After spending time in Paris, Jones began to introduce motifs of African tribal art into her works. She was further influenced by her marriage to the Haitian graphic designer Louis Verginaud Pierre-Noel. She served as a cultural ambassador to Africa for the United States Information Agency beginning in 1970. In this role she gave lectures, interviewed local artists, and visited museums in eleven countries. This experience can be seen reflected in her works from 1971-1989.