Loïs Mailou Jones
Les Fétiches1938
oil
21 x 25 1/2 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. N. H. Green, Dr. R. Harlan, and Francis Musgrave
Fetishes are inanimate objects endowed with magical powers. These masks, standing red figure, and small white amulet quiver and dance mysteriously against a darkened backdrop. Created in 1938 during Jones’s sabbatical year in Paris, this was the first work in which she used African art as the primary theme.
