Jones studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and her earliest works are designs for textiles and costumes. In the 1930s, she turned to painting, continuing her studies in Paris. She taught at Howard University from 1930 to 1977 and in 1973 she was the first African-American woman to be given a one-person show at the MFA. This painting, which depicts three elaborate hats designed by Jones's milliner mother, is typical of her richly colored and freely-brushed style of the 1940s.

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