Ida Ella Ruth Jones
Ida Ella Ruth Jones (born February 4, 1874 in Chatham , Pennsylvania , † January 31, 1959 ) was an American naive painter . She was a self-taught African-American woman who depicted life in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania in the first half of the 20th century.
life and work
The daughter of a former slave, Jones worked on her parents' farm and looked after her younger brothers and sisters. In 1892 she married the pastor of the Church in Ercildoun, Pennsylvania, and raised ten children with him, including Ida J. Williams, who was her biographer. She began her painting career in the 1970s in and around her home on a farm in Ercildoun , Pennsylvania. She painted in Chester County in the 1940s and 1950s, depicting many aspects of family and peasant life. She painted in watercolor, oil and drew with pencil in a style typical of folk art. Her work illustrates personal observations of family and peasant life, nature, landscapes, early technologies, human interaction and slavery. She first exhibited at the Chester County Art Association's 19th Annual Spring Show in 1950. In 1950, Horace Mann Bond , historian and president of Lincoln University , accidentally called Jones looking for information on the Underground Railroad in Chester County. Her parents' house should have served as a ward. Bond discovered the paintings while visiting her and invited Jones to hold her first solo exhibition at Lincoln University's Vail Memorial Library.
The Townsends, who were collectors of folk art, were enthusiastic about their opening exhibition. In 1952, the Townsends organized a second exhibition at their Cheyney home, drawing the attention of many prominent collectors and dealers to Jones' art. It wasn't long before her paintings were featured in various galleries, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and many regional exhibitions in Chester County. Roberta and Walter Townsend introduced Jones' work to art dealers and gallery owners. In 1952, her paintings were exhibited with works by other 115 artists at the Pyramid Club Art Show in Philadelphia . After 1957, her artistic output declined due to illness, although she remained active until her death on January 31, 1959. In 1974 the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington showed paintings by the self-taught Ida Jones and Horace Pippin . A second posthumous exhibition took place in 1988 at the African American Museum in Philadelphia . The Chester County Historical Society installed a comprehensive exhibition in the county town of West Chester, entitled "To Everything A Season: The Art and Life of Ida Jones," which explored the close relationship between Ida Jones' life and her surroundings.
literature
- Ida J. Williams: Starting ANEW After Seventy, The Story of Ida Ella Jones, Primitive Artist, First Edition, Exposition Press Inc., 1980, ISBN 978-0682495448
- Beverly Sheppard, Roberta Townsend: The Art and Life of Ida Jones, Chester County Historical Society, 1995, ISBN 978-0929706085
- Black, Mary, Jean Lipman: American Folk Painting. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1966.
- Hemphill, Herbert W., Jr., Julia Weissman: Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. New York: EP Dutton and Company, 1974.
- Kallir, Jane: The Folk Art Tradition. New York: The Viking Press, 1981.
- Lipman, Jean: American Primitive Painting. New York: Dover Publications, 1972.
Web links
- Short biography
- Art Partners celebrates Coatesville's Centennial with Ida E. Jones exhibit
- Photo of Ida Ella Ruth Jones with her brother
- Ida Jones collection
- The World of Ida Ella Jones
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jones, Ida Ella Ruth |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 4, 1874 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chatham , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 1959 |