Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998), Africa, 1935. oil on canvasboard, 24 x 20 in. The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina. 2016.10.02

The untold stories of Southern women artists have been brought to light in an exhibit currently showing at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Spanning the decades between the late 1890s and early 1960s, the exhibition “Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection” explores the particularly complex challenges these artists confronted in a traditionally conservative region during a period in which women’s social, cultural and political roles were being redefined and reinterpreted. How did the variables of historical gender norms, educational barriers, race, regionalism, sisterhood, suffrage and modernism mitigate and motivate women seeking expression on canvas or in clay? Working from studio space in spare rooms at home or on the world stage, the artists considered made remarkable contributions by fostering future generations of artists through instruction, incorporating new aesthetics into the fine arts and challenging the status quo.

Featuring works by Dusti Bongé, Anne Goldthwaite, Clementine Hunter, Nell Choate Jones, Ida Kohlmeyer, Alma Thomas, Marie Hull, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, and Kate Freeman Clark, “Central to Their Lives” examines the achievements of women artists working in and inspired by the American South.

The Myra Hamilton Green and Lynn Green Root Memorial Exhibition is showcased in the Gertrude C. Ford Galleries for The Permanent Collection. The exhibit will continue to Jan. 20, 2019.

The Mississippi Museum of Art is located at 38- South Lamar St. in Jackson. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, from noon-5 p.m. For more information, call 601-960-1515 or visit the website msmuseumart.org