Lot 175: Nell Choate Jones O/C Painting, Men Dancing

Nell Hinton Choate Jones (Georgia/New York, 1879-1981) oil on canvas painting that depicts five African American men who wear brightly colored clothes and dance at night in a clearing before an old wooden fence. Two curving trees bookend the group and dense foliage grows beyond the fence. Signed “Nell Choate Jones,” lower left. Housed in a silvered wooden frame with linen liner. Sight: 19 3/16 in. H x 23 2/16 in. W. Framed: 22 1/4 in. H x 26 5/16 in. W. Biography: Born in Hawkinsville, Georgia, Nell Choate was only five years old when her father, who had served as a captain in the Confederate forces, died and her family relocated to Brooklyn. Following graduation from Adelphi Academy, she taught elementary school. Her career objectives changed in the 1920s, when her husband, the etcher and painter Eugene Arthur Jones, encouraged her to focus on art. Her impressionistic landscapes appeared in the Southern States Art League’s 1925 exhibition in Atlanta and, two years later, at the Holt Gallery in New York City. Jones traveled to Paris in 1929, where she was awarded a scholarship to the Fontainebleau School of Art, located in the heart of the French countryside made famous by the Barbizon painters. In 1936, Jones returned to Georgia and found inspiration in the South; this subject matter triggered a shift in Jones’ aesthetic. She began to make periodic trips to the South, where she created landscapes as well as genre scenes of regional traditions. Frequently, her paintings depict African Americans at labor and in moments of leisure. Jones served as president of the National Association of Women Artists and, simultaneously, as the first female president of the Brooklyn Society of Artists. In 1941, Jones initiated efforts to establish an art museum at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, to which she donated twelve paintings. As Jones neared her centennial birthday, she was named Woman of the Year by the National Association of Women Artists and was honored with a Distinguished Citizen Award from the Brooklyn Museum. (Adapted from The Johnson Collection). 

PROVENANCE:

Estate of Joanne Humbert

CONDITION:

Overall very good condition. Canvas is slightly loose. Repaired puncture with overpainting to approximately 2 inch x 1 1/2 inch area in foliage above fence, upper center. See U/V photography. Frame with minor abrasions and losses plus staining to liner.