- Created by
- Jones, Loïs Mailou, American, 1905 - 1998
- Date
- 1947
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- H x W (unframed): 18 × 22 in. (45.7 × 55.9 cm)
- H x W x D (framed): 23 1/2 × 27 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (59.7 × 69.9 × 3.2 cm)
- Caption
- Artist, designer, and professor Lois Mailou Jones was an avowed Francophile. Like many African American artists, writers, and musicians before her, she chose to live and work in Paris as a way of escaping racial oppression. She recalled, "This country [the United States] wasn’t interested in exhibiting our work or allowing any of the opportunities that white artists enjoyed." Paris represented a dream of freedom, a place where she would be "appreciated as an artist."
- Jones painted this famous 13th-century French castle and tourist attraction during her second visit to Paris in 1947. It was reproduced in the artist’s book, Lois Mailou Jones: Peintures, 1937–1951.
- Description
- An impressionistic landscape painting of a 15th century French castle, Château d'Olhain, located near Calais in the north of France. This picturesque castle, with its bright orange-hued roof and stone walls, is positioned in the midst of a lake, which Jones depicts through shimmering reflection in the surrounding waters. Although the castle keep dominates the canvas, it is depicted off-center and to the right. The foreground focuses on a simple fence bordering the lake, and a dirt path leading to the castle's bailey (enclosed courtyard) and other ancillary buildings, possibly stables, located behind the castle. At center left, a person walks towards the village, their back to the viewer. The sky is a pale blue punctuated with a few fluffy white clouds. The canvas is signed by the artist in the lower-right hand corner, [Lois M/ Jones/ France/ 1947.].
- Place depicted
- Château d'Olhain, Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, Europe
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- oil paintings
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Dr. Gregory L. Shannon Family, Courtesy of Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust
- Object number
- 2015.111
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




