Initiation, Liberia

Loïs Mailou Jones, Initiation, Liberia, 1983, acrylic on canvas, 35 ¹⁄₄ x 23 ¹⁄₄ in. (89.6 x 59.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 2006.24.7

Artwork Details

Title: Initiation, Liberia
Artist: Loïs Mailou Jones
Date: 1983
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 35 ¹⁄₄ x 23 ¹⁄₄ in. (89.6 x 59.1 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of the artist
Mediums: acrylic
Mediums Description: acrylic on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Allegory — life — womanhood
African
Figure female — head
Object Number: 2006.24.7
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2006.24.7

Artwork Description

Jones was especially sensitive to the rights and roles of women. For many years she felt forced to ship rather than deliver her work in person to exhibitions so museums would not reject them because they had been done by a black female artist. In Initiation, Liberia, she interpreted the Sande society initiation ritual. The swath of white paint across the young woman’s eyes indicates her role as an initiate. The mask partly obscures her distinctive personality but combined with the receding profiles at the left of her head, suggests continuity over generations that is implied by the ritual ceremony.

African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012