Full Spectrum: The Prolific Master within Loïs Mailou Jones
Hosted by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
in Partnership with the Loïs Mailou Jones Trust
The I Street Gallery, Washington, DC
November 3, 2014 – January 30, 2015
Opening Reception Remarks by Dr. Chris Chapman
Good Evening. On behalf of the Loïs Mailou Jones Trust, the Trustees Larry Frazier, Robert Jones and Barry Gaither, we welcome you to the Loïs Mailou Jones 109th birthday celebration and exhibition.
There are some people we would like to thank.
• We would like to sincerely thank Judith Terra, Chair of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her vision of this exhibition;
• Commission staff Lionell Thomas, Executive Director, Zoma Wallace, Curator and Tonya Jordan, Public Art Program Manager, for their support and management;
• A special thanks to Dianne Bailey for her support;
• And to Mack Wilbourn for his support of this exhibition at our next stop, Atlanta.
Personal Comments by Chris Chapman
The best way to explain this superb exhibition is to humanize Loïs. That can be done best by quoting Loïs. This is an excerpt from her diary in 1938 while she was on sabbatical from Howard University and studying at L’Academie Julian in Paris.
“The greatest thrill was the selection of two of my paintings for the exhibit at La Grand Palais, Paris in 1938. This experience assured me of my talent and prepared me for the disappointment I was to receive on my return to my country where the establishment was not ready to promote the work of black artists. To break this barrier, I shipped two works to the 1939 Salon in Paris to reinsure the confidence in my abilities. Their acceptance in France again gave me courage. I immediately decided to ship my works to the major exhibits or have them delivered by my white colleague in the United States. I did not appear until I reached my niche.”
Here is the background to that entry. While Loïs was in Paris in 1938, her paintings were accepted by the top museums in France, along with the works of master French painters. France was free of artistic prejudice. However, in the United States at that time, as Loïs knew full well, it was illegal for blacks to visit art museums and galleries, let alone have an art exhibition in Washington, DC.
When Loïs said she needed courage to break down barriers, she knew if her paintings were good enough to be accepted in France, they should be accepted in United States and she was prepared for that fight. When she returned to the United States, Loïs had her French colleague Céline Tabary deliver or ship paintings in crates to exhibitions at major museums. Loïs' work would often win and would win first prize. Loïs had to keep this ruse up for several years until the racial climate changed, allowing blacks to enter museums and galleries in Washington, DC. That is the Legacy of Mademoiselle Loïs Mailou Jones.
With that I would like for you to hear from Loïs’s curator, an art historian, mentor and colleague, Dr. Barry Gaither.
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