Fatima
Tonnie Jones
1 of 2
Object Label
“All my pieces are the forces of the gods speaking through me. These are not preconceived works, therefore I am not the creator but the medium through which their will comes forth.”
— Tonnie Jones, 1969
Self-taught artist Tonnie Jones created this sculptural figure during the height of the Black Power movement, a social and political alliance that advocated for racial pride and equality for African Americans across the nation. Although much of the artist’s life is unknown, Fatima is one of three works by Jones displayed in the exhibition New Black Artists at the Brooklyn Museum in October 1969. New Black Artists was curated with the intention of raising the question of “the role the Black experience plays in shaping the expression of Black artists.”
Out of Place marks the first time this work has been on display since it was on loan to the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1974.
— Tonnie Jones, 1969
Self-taught artist Tonnie Jones created this sculptural figure during the height of the Black Power movement, a social and political alliance that advocated for racial pride and equality for African Americans across the nation. Although much of the artist’s life is unknown, Fatima is one of three works by Jones displayed in the exhibition New Black Artists at the Brooklyn Museum in October 1969. New Black Artists was curated with the intention of raising the question of “the role the Black experience plays in shaping the expression of Black artists.”
Out of Place marks the first time this work has been on display since it was on loan to the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1974.
Caption
Tonnie Jones (American, born 1943). Fatima, 1969. Oak, wax, 23 × 11 1/2 × 9 1/2 in. (58.4 × 29.2 × 24.1 cm) mount (display dims): 23 × 12 × 12 in. (58.4 × 30.5 × 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 69.129. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Fatima
Date
1969
Medium
Oak, wax
Classification
Dimensions
23 × 11 1/2 × 9 1/2 in. (58.4 × 29.2 × 24.1 cm) mount (display dims): 23 × 12 × 12 in. (58.4 × 30.5 × 30.5 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
69.129
Frequent Art Questions
Does this symbolize something?
Yes, it does! This work is by self-taught artist Tonnie Jones. He created this figure, Fatima, during the height of the Black Power Movement (1969) and it is meant to raise questions about "the role the black experience plays in shaping the expression of Black artists."Thank you I had an amazing time at the museum!Tell me more.
My favorite fun fact about this piece is that the eyes were added later. It was already in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 1969 and, after seeing it there, the artist, Tonnie Jones, returned to add these eyes made of stone or glass.For the catalogue for that exhibition, called New Black Artists, curators asked Jones about what his education in the arts had been and he responded, "life."
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