The Lovers (Somali Friends) 1950

Editor: We're looking at Lois Mailou Jones's 1950 oil painting, "The Lovers (Somali Friends)". It has a striking intensity, a really close, intimate portrayal. What strikes you about it? Curator: The immediate thing is the layering of material culture. Consider the facture, how thickly the oil paint has been applied – notice those individual brushstrokes giving real texture and weight to the clothing. Then we move to the jewelry. The beads. How might those materials have been acquired, circulated? Editor: That’s interesting, I was focused more on their expressions. The woman’s clothing seems traditionally made, perhaps? Does it say anything about the social status of her labor? Curator: Precisely! It invites speculation about textile production and global exchange. Jones traveled extensively; considering the socio-political landscape of the time and the relationship between colonizers and colonized peoples is central. Think about what that garment might represent, socially, economically. Editor: So the materiality becomes a lens to understand those relationships of power? Curator: Yes. What looks like a ‘simple’ portrait becomes deeply entangled with networks of production and consumption. The artist’s hand, the pigments themselves, the fabric... it all tells a story beyond just the surface image. What’s left unsaid in terms of social hierarchies? The work makes me ask where those materials came from? How does that affect my reading of the portrait? Editor: I hadn't considered how the very materials could tell a completely different narrative, thanks for the insights. Curator: Indeed, I learned new ways of considering the work, focusing on how it challenges high art by celebrating and revealing labour through materiality.