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| Accession # | 2012.1 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Loïs Mailou Jones |
| Title | Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper) |
| Date | 1939 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| 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) |
| Marks | 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 |
| Signed | “Lois M. / Jones / 39” - oil, lower proper left corner |
| Credit Line | Brooklyn Museum Fund for African American Art and gift of Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams, Jr. |
| Location | American Identities: Modern Life |
Curatorial Remarks: 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.
