Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper)
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Here, Lois Mailou Jones painted Leah Whipper at the height of his career as a Broadway and Hollywood actor. Whipper would soon become famous for his role as Crooks in the 1939 film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. His character—a stable hand ostracized because of his race—served to illuminate the movie’s Depression-era message that the American Dream’s promise of economic and social success was impossible.
The artist’s portrayal of a pensive Whipper answered Alain LeRoy Locke’s call for Black artists to create ennobling representations of African Americans. Locke was an intellectual during the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of the 1920s and ’30s that resulted in a blossoming of African American culture.
Caption
Loïs Mailou Jones American, 1905–1998. Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper), 1939. Oil on canvas, 36 x 29 in. (91.4 x 73.7 cm) frame: 42 x 37 x 2 5/8 in. (106.7 x 94 x 6.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Fund for African American Art and gift of Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams, Jr., 2012.1. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2012.1_edited_version_PS6.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper)
Date
1939
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
36 x 29 in. (91.4 x 73.7 cm) frame: 42 x 37 x 2 5/8 in. (106.7 x 94 x 6.7 cm)
Signatures
“Lois M. / Jones / 39” - oil, lower proper left corner
Markings
VERSO Top half of the canvas, black paint: Lois M. Jones / 1858 California St.N.W [struckthrough] / Washington D.C. U.S.A / “Dans un café à Paris” STRETCHER Top member: “T 3537” in black Crayon “Remove Patch With Mineral Spirits” - typed paper label “1930 / [...?...] Mailos Jones / “Dans un Café [?] Paris” ” - Paper label, partially lost, with mylar cover “ S. E. No. / MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS / BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS / SPECIAL LOAN EXHIBITION / OF / LOIS MAILOU JONES RE[...?...]” - Typed paper label, partially lost, with mylar cover Cross bar: illegible/faded circular stamp “EXHIBITED PARIS SALON - 1939” in black paint “# 8” in black pen Bottom member: “30[?]” stamped in black ink, last character is illegible, stamp is upside down Proper left member: Markings made of black crayon possibly “A+” Proper right member: Paper label, see image CONS.2012.1_2023_bt_rev
Credit Line
Brooklyn Museum Fund for African American Art and gift of Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams, Jr.
Accession Number
2012.1
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
I noticed this piece is, "newly on view," how did they decide to bring this one out? Did it replace something else?
Good eye! While I don't have an insight into the mind of the curators, I can make an educated guess that it is on view because of how unique it is. This painting is an example of a female African American artist working during the Harlem Renaissance and depicting an African American Broadway actor. Lois Mailou Jones was influential during the Harlem Renaissance and set out to create positive images of the African American community. It's a powerful image from a powerful artist. Also, it was a recent acquisition by the Brooklyn Museum.Wow! The background really makes the piece.It does, doesn't it? I like to compare this work to Eastman Johnson's "A Ride for Liberty," also on the 5th floor. Both artists were committed to portraying African American subjects in a positive way at very different periods of American history.Was the artist part of the Harlem Renaissance?
I love this work by Loïs Mailou Jones. Here she paints Leigh Whipper -- a noted actor. Jones was associated with the Harlem Renaissance (although she also worked in Paris for a time).During the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved, many by train, from the rural south to the urban north in the 1910s for better jobs and living conditions. Many settled in New York where there were many publishers, museums, galleries, and art schools. Slowly but surely Harlem became the epicenter of a new cultural movement. Jones knew many major figures of that movement, like Alain Locke and Langston Hughes.Can you tell me about this?
Jones was associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a rich cultural period that flourished in New York in between the two World Wars. During this period, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved from the rural south to the urban north to find better jobs and to escape racial persecution. Many settled in New York and artists began to form a community there.Many African American artists also traveled to Paris, which was even more liberal than New York. Here we see a black man in a Paris cafe. You can see that the artist is working in a European Modernist style, evoking early Picasso, Cezanne, and others!I found out about her not too long ago but to see her work in person is something else!
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