Initiation, Liberia

Loïs Mailou Jones, Initiation, Liberia, 1983, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 2006.24.7
Copied 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
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
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
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