Louise E. Jefferson (1908–2002) was an American artist.
Education
After attending public schools in Washington DC,
Jefferson began her artistic education taking lessons at
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
before moving to New York City in 1935.
She attended
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
,
which in the first half of the 20th century had the third highest enrollment of African American women in United States colleges and universities that were not dedicated solely to African American Studies.
While there, she studied art composition, design, and lithography. From Hunter, Jefferson moved on to study graphic arts and printing practices at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
Artistic career
Following her studies at Columbia University, Jefferson began her artistic career designing posters for the
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
(Young Women's Christian Association) in New York City,
and found freelance work for Friendship Press.
By 1942, she was the publishing company's artistic director, overseeing all aspects of its book productions.
She was the first African American to hold a director's position in the publishing industry.
Jefferson additionally did freelance work for the major publishing companies Doubleday, Macmillan, and Viking, as well as the academic presses of Columbia University, Oxford University, Rutgers University, and Syracuse University.
Jefferson designed illustrations of black and white children for the songbook ''We Sing America.'' In 1936, then governor of Georgia,
Eugene Talmadge
Eugene Talmadge (September 23, 1884 – December 21, 1946) was an attorney and American politician who served three terms as the 67th governor of Georgia, from 1933 to 1937, and then again from 1941 to 1943. Elected to a fourth term in November ...
, ordered copies of the songbook burned.
Her lithographs were exhibited in museums around the country under the auspices of the
Harmon Foundation
The Harmon Foundation was established in 1921 by wealthy real-estate developer and philanthropist William E. Harmon (1862–1928). A native of the Midwest, Harmon's father was an officer in the 10th Cavalry Regiment.
The Foundation originally su ...
,
an organization known for supporting and exhibiting the works of African Americans from the 1920s until the 1960s.
In 1960, Jefferson retired from Friendship Press. She would, however, continue to produce work, designing book jacket covers and maps for universities and publishing companies,
as well as publicity materials for the 23rd and 26th annual
National Urban League
The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...
Beaux Art Balls,
held respectively in 1963 and 1966 at The
Waldorf Astoria
The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultz ...
hotel.
Following her retirement, Jefferson embarked on five trips to Africa, where she documented her travels in both illustration and photography.
In 1974, ''The Decorative Arts of Africa'' was published, which documents her research, photographs, and drawings of her visits to Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe; it contains over three hundred of her illustrations.
Jefferson kept an art studio in Litchfield, CT during her later years.
Personal life
Louise E. Jefferson was born in Washington, DC as an only child to parents Louise and Paul Jefferson. Her father, a calligrapher for the United States Treasury Department, encouraged her to draw as a child.
She studied art in New York City, where she was active in the African American art scene in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
being credited as a founding member of the
Harlem Artists Guild The Harlem Artists Guild (1935–41) was an African-American organization founded by artists including Augusta Savage, Charles Alston, Elba Lightfoot, Louise E. Jefferson and bibliophile Arthur Schomburg with the aims of encouraging young talent, ...
. Other notable members of the guild included
Augusta Savage
Augusta Savage (born Augusta Christine Fells; February 29, 1892 – March 27, 1962) was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who w ...
,
Aaron Douglas,
Selma Burke
Selma Hortense Burke (December 31, 1900 – August 29, 1995) was an American sculptor and a member of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Burke is best known for a bas relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt which may have been the model ...
,
Gwendolyn Bennett
Gwendolyn B. Bennett (July 8, 1902 – May 30, 1981) was an American artist, writer, and journalist who contributed to '' Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life'', which chronicled cultural advancements during the Harlem Renaissance. Though ofte ...
, and
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...
.
Jefferson was friends with poet and author
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
, and shared an apartment with civil rights activist
Pauli Murray
Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist who became a lawyer, gender equality advocate, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977 she became one of the first women ...
.
Jefferson struggled financially in her early New York years before earning a full-time position at Friendship Press, the publishing branch of the
National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...
. After Jefferson's retirement from Friendship Press in 1960, she made several trips to Africa, eventually publishing her book ''The Decorative Arts of Africa'' in 1974.
Jefferson's later years were spent in
Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...
, where she occupied the last few years of her life gardening and entertaining friends. She died in Litchfield in 2002, at the age of 93.
Selected works and collections
The Amistad Research Center Collection
In 2002 the estate of Louise E. Jefferson was gifted t
The Amistad Research Center which is an open research facility in New Orleans, Louisiana dedicated to the records of African Americans and other underrepresented communities.
The collection includes a myriad of Jefferson's works, including drawings and designs, a vast collection of photography and negatives, and other ephemera. Also in the research center's collection are Jefferson's financial records, appointment diaries, correspondence, notes and notebooks, and a book proposal and rough draft for an unpublished book, ''Art and Religion in Africa.''
Lithographs
*
Dancing at the Club Savoy'' 1938, Metropolitan Museum of Art
*
Nightclub Singer'' 1938, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Maps
* Jefferson, Louise E.
Twentieth Century Americans of Negro Lineage, First Edition.' The Friendship Press, New York. 1965.
Further reading
* Jefferson, Louise E., ''The Decorative Arts of Africa.'' Collins, London. 1974.
* Amistad Research Center
Louise Jefferson Papers (1925-2001)
External links
AIGA Design Journeys: Louise E. Jefferson video
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Louise E.
1908 births
2002 deaths
Artists from Washington, D.C.
Howard University alumni
Hunter College alumni
Columbia University School of the Arts alumni