Lois Mailou Jones has been called one of the 20th-century's most important African-American painters. Born in Bost, Jones studied at the Boston Museum School with Philip Hale. She studied in Paris, where she was influenced by Cezanne and Impressionism. On her return to America she began to paint scenes of African-American life. She traveled regularly to Haiti, which she had come to know through her marriage to Haitian artist Louis V. Pierre-Noel, and painted many scenes of daily activities there. From the 1920s through 1960s Jones exhibited at the Boston Museum School, the Corcoran Gallery, the Harmon Foundation, Howard Univeristy, the National Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and many other venues. She was a member of the Royal Society of Artists in France and was named a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit of Honor in Haiti. Jones taught at Howard University for over forty-five years.

Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking