Mailou Jones (1905–1998) was born in Boston. Both of Jones’s parents encouraged her artistically. In her teens, Jones earned a drawing scholarship at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and started on a path that eventually led her to become a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Jones traveled widely, gaining international recognition for her art, especially in France, where she felt free from prejudice, and Haiti. She became an advocate for artists worldwide, particularly those from Africa and Haiti, and resisted labels that defined her by race or gender.
In this painting, Jones presents two women in a frontal view. They look directly at the viewer and fill most of the composition. Jones models the figures with loosely applied bold, distinct brushstrokes. She uses many colors mixed on the canvas to paint the women’s skin tones. Jones adds shadows in dramatically rendered dark grays and light blues. She renders the light reflecting off their faces and hair in white and rich brown. To create the details in their clothing, Jones uses quick dabs of paint, matching the treatment of the background.
Vivid contrasting colors and bold patterns in the background fill the space surrounding the women. The background is a decorative, two-dimensional surface and is as important as the foreground. Energetic colors push the flat space forward, yet through the volumetric modeling of the women’s figures, Jones retains a sense of three-dimensional space.
Jones carefully aligns the women’s heads between oval motifs in the background. The related shapes visually link the subjects with the space around them. The yellow dress features a dotted neckline, which echoes the pattern in the background. Even the women’s shoulders follow the contours of the pattern behind them.
Jones paints the canvas in a complex, layered blend of colors. Dashes of adjacent complementary colors (red/green and blue/orange pairs) show the influence of French Impressionism on the artist. She uses highly saturated colors that create a shimmering effect.
The relationship between the background and foreground is meaningful. Jones’s earliest professional experience was designing textiles as a freelancer in New York City, cultivating her eye for pattern and design. Later in life she explored African motifs in art and design. In this double portrait, the women wear contemporary dress and hairstyles. A pattern reminiscent of African fabrics surrounds them, uniting the women with a rich cultural heritage. As Jones explained, “Mine is a quiet exploration—a quest for new meanings in color, texture and design.”