JAMES A. PORTER (1905 - 1970)
The Masquerade.

Oil on linen canvas, circa 1929. 380x452 mm; 15x18 inches. With the artist's label pasted on the canvas verso.

Provenance: gift of the artist to Loïs Mailou Jones; the estate of Loïs Mailou Jones; private collection; acquired from Swann Auction Galleries on 02/19/2008, private collection, Illinois.

The Masquerade is a scarce example of a Harlem Renaissance-era painting by the great art historian, educator and painter James A. Porter. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Porter grew up in the District of Columbia. Porter entered Howard University's School of Applied Sciences on an art scholarship in the fall of 1923 under the tutelage of James V. Herring, the founder of Howard's art department. Graduating in 1927, James Porter was soon appointed as an assistant professor. He went on to become the head of the department and the director of the Art Gallery at Howard University until 1970. Porter also attended Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Art Students League, New York

In 1930, Loïs Mailou Jones joined Porter on the Howard University faculty, where they both taught for over forty years. Porter frequently entered the Harmon Foundation Exhibitions in New York; in 1933, he was awarded the Arturo Schomburg Portrait Prize for his painting, Woman Holding A Jug. In 1943, Porter published his seminal Modern Negro Art, the first comprehensive survey of African American Art.