Harlem Pride and Lois Mailou Jones

The Ascent of Ethiopia (1932)

     This painting, called "The Ascent of Ethiopia"(1932) was painted by Lois Mailou Jones. Jones was an African American artist during the Harlem Renaissance. Many of her paintings(as this one does) reflects her pride at her African heritage.
      What drew my eye to this painting was the beautiful contrast of light and dark colors. Jones uses light yellows mixed into the dark blues, greens and blacks to draw your eye up and towards the sun(in the corner of the page) and to the other corner, where there are dark shadows playing musical instruments, taking photos, painting, singing and dancing.  I love the surrealist feel of the painting.
     Jone's painting explores the struggles and success's of Africans to be recognized as talented individuals. She explores many different Harlem Renaissance themes such as heritage/culture, struggle to reconstruct the meaning of negro and a strong pride at what her peoples artistic accomplishments. The image of the ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian in the headdress shows us she knows her background and is not afraid to explore it. The Egyptian is in the very foreground, giving us the impression that he is surveying the scene, almost watching over his ancestors.

Lois Mailou Jones(1905-1998)

     The people next to the ancient Egyptian seem to be struggling to climb in to the light, in order to show us the struggle Africans had in being recognized. The right corner seems to represent the Harlem Renaissance at its peak. I love how Jone's not only represented painters but also drama and other preforming and visual arts.                            
       She was very proud of what she accomplished through her art. Jones has once commented that her contribution to the arts was a “proof of the talent of black artists". She said that "The African-American artist is important in the history of art and I have demonstrated it by working and painting here and all over the world."(http://www.answers.com/topic/lois-mailou-jones) Jone's pride and hard work was an inspiration to many.