35: JOE JONES (1909-1963) OIL ON MASONITE CIRCA 1934

Joe (Joseph John) Jones (1909-1963)
'Roustabout' Laborers (Circa 1934)
The evocative composition of African American laborers handling cargo along a waterfront is signed lower right front in black pigment.

The subjects and composition of this work are closely related to a major painting by Joe Jones titled Roustabouts, now in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the National Gallery of Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art all hold paintings by Joe Jones in their collections.

Joe Joseph John Jones was a prolific painter, lithographer and WPA muralist. His strong left leaning sensibilities motivated his focus on the American Scene and Social Realism in his paintings. He sought to document the struggles of workers, particularly African American workers, and to portray and protest the racism they endured. He did so with in various ways. For instance, in the painting Roustabouts a rotund white man wearing a Panama hat looks down on a number of defeated looking workers. Every black man in the composition has their head down, including those in motion who strain against the weight of the cargo they're charged with moving, highlighting the inequity of the times.

Throughout history, particularly in the 1930s, the terms 'roustabout' and 'roughneck' where used as a label for unskilled workers who performed general labor, such as loading and unloading cargo.
Board measures 9 x 10 with a framed size of 13.75 x 15.25 inches.
Very good original untouched condition. There are no issues of scratches, losses, repairs, chips, paint cupping, rubs, in-painting or touch-up, as confirmed under UV light.
$15,000 - $25,000