<I>Château d’Olhain</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1947
name: label: Created by
content: Loïs Mailou Jones, American, 1905 - 1998
notes: label: Caption
content: Artist, designer, and professor Lois Mailou Jones was an avowed Francophile. Like many African American artists, writers, and musicians before her, she chose to live and work in Paris as a way of escaping racial oppression. She recalled, "This country [the United States] wasn’t interested in exhibiting our work or allowing any of the opportunities that white artists enjoyed." Paris represented a dream of freedom, a place where she would be "appreciated as an artist."
label: Caption
content: Jones painted this famous 13th-century French castle and tourist attraction during her second visit to Paris in 1947. It was reproduced in the artist’s book, Lois Mailou Jones: Peintures, 1937–1951.
label: Description
content: An impressionistic landscape painting of a 15th century French castle, Château d'Olhain, located near Calais in the north of France. This picturesque castle, with its bright orange-hued roof and stone walls, is positioned in the midst of a lake, which Jones depicts through shimmering reflection in the surrounding waters. Although the castle keep dominates the canvas, it is depicted off-center and to the right. The foreground focuses on a simple fence bordering the lake, and a dirt path leading to the castle's bailey (enclosed courtyard) and other ancillary buildings, possibly stables, located behind the castle. At center left, a person walks towards the village, their back to the viewer. The sky is a pale blue punctuated with a few fluffy white clouds. The canvas is signed by the artist in the lower-right hand corner, [Lois M/ Jones/ France/ 1947.].
place: label: Place depicted
content: Château d'Olhain, Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, Europe
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Freedom
label: Topic
content: Nature
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Dr. Gregory L. Shannon Family, Courtesy of Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2015.111
objectType: label: Type
content: oil paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (unframed): 18 × 22 in. (45.7 × 55.9 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (framed): 23 1/2 × 27 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (59.7 × 69.9 × 3.2 cm)