Women of Modern Art

  Kay Sage (Image from wikiart.org ) Sage, Kay.  Tomorrow is Never. 1955, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  (Image from wikiart.org ) Artist Background     Kay Sage was an American painter born in 1898 in Albany, NY. As a child, she spent a lot of time traveling and living abroad in Europe with her mother after her parents divorced. During her time in Europe, she became fond of drawing, writing, and painting. Once she moved back to the United States, she attended the Corcoran Art School in Washington, D.C. A large amount of her art is a part of the cultural movement of Surrealism, which took place in the modern art period. Her pieces are intense, vivid, and capture a great deal of depth. One common motif throughout her pieces, which exists in Tomorrow is Never , is a flowing cloth or drape.  Artwork Background     Tomorrow is Never was painted in 1955, just months after Sage's husband Yves Tanguy suddenly died. The piece seems to be reflective of t...

Jones, Loïs Mailou.  Les Fétiches. 1933, Smithsonian American Art Museum.  (Image from Smithsonian American Art Museum website ) Loïs Mailou Jones (Image from blackpast.org )   Artist Background Loïs Mailou Jones was an American painter, born in 1905 in Boston, MA. She grew up experimenting with art and eventually graduated from the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1927. She was the first African American to do so. Later in life, she taught art at the Palmer Memorial Institute and Howard University. Much of her art has themes of African culture and use of bold or vibrant color, although she also painted traditional landscapes and some portraits. Though she was not originally from New York, she was considered to be an influential artist of the Harlem Renaissance.  Artwork Background     While on sabbatical in Paris, Jones encountered depictions of African art. Using African tradition and tribal practices as inspiration, she painted Les  Fétic...