Designing a New Tradition: Loïs Mailou Jones and the Aesthetics of Blackness

In Designing a New Tradition, Rebecca VanDiver presents a fresh perspective on the art and career of Loïs Mailou Jones. Considering the importance of Africa for Jones’s work and examining the broader roles played by class, gender, and politics in constructions of African American art histories as a whole, VanDiver makes a convincing case for Jones’s lasting place in American art history.

VanDiver repositions Jones’s work within the canon of American art, situating the artist’s production wit...