{{Short description|American visual artist, writer and educator}} {{Infobox artist | name = Henry Bozeman Jones | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | birth_date = March 11, 1887 | death_date = April 1, 1971 | education = Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts<br>Philadelphia School of Pedagogy | known_for = painter, print-maker, writer, educator, illustrator, teacher, athletic coach, school counselor }}
'''Henry Bozeman Jones''' (March 11, 1887 – April 1, 1971) was an African American artist, writer, print-maker, illustrator, teacher, athletic coach and school counselor. He was known primarily for his portraits and landscapes.
== Early life and community involvement == Henry Bozeman Jones was born on March 11, 1887, in Philadelphia to Andrew J. and Ada Jones. Bozeman was his mother’s surname. His father was a real state agent. Jones attended Central High School<ref name=":1">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532672366}} |title=Henry Jones, Teacher And Artist, Dead |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=10 April 1971 }}</ref> and received a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1907.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1907-07-06 |title=City scholarships given to graduates |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/168330349/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> He attended the academy from 1908 to 1910, studying under artists Thomas Anshutz, Henry Poore, William Merritt Chase and Hugh Breckenridge.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531279610}} |title=Exhibit Henry Jones' Work In New York |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=29 December 1932 }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1932-04-03 |title=Art here and in New York: H.B. Jones oils |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173931046/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Gary A. |title=Against the Odds: African Americans and the Harmon Foundation |last2=Wright |first2=Beryl J. |publisher=Newark Museum of Art |year=1989}}</ref> Anshutz chose Jones from among his other students to work with him in his studio.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1931 |title=An exhibition of the work of Negro artists / presented by the Harmon Foundation |url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll4/id/26166/ |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries}}</ref>
After graduation, Jones enrolled at the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, which trained Central graduates to become elementary school teachers.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531860435}} |title=Henry Jones Guest Sat. Of Former Pupils |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=22 April 1950 }}</ref> Jones was never able to live off his art alone. He worked at a number of jobs while painting part time - as a shipping clerk, bellboy, porter, cement worker, actor, printer and teacher.<ref name=":2" />
He was referred to as “Hen Jones” by those who knew him well, and was inseparable from his pipe.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531409880}} |last1=McClarrin |first1=Otto |title=Otto: In Crandtown! In the shadows of the White House |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=8 October 1936 }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In a column about versatile men, a Philadelphia Tribune writer noted in 1954 that Jones, then retired, was skilled in building cupboards and cabinets.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532035875}} |last1=Saunders |first1=Jack |title=Minister Among Most Versatile Man In City |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=10 August 1954 }}</ref> He was called on often to talk about a variety of subjects. He judged a children’s poster contest for a sorority, spoke on the subject of Black youth at a forum, and using charts, urged a women’s group to "use the brilliant coloring of their race to its best advantage by wearing all shades of red, orange, blue green and brown and by avoiding all tints" in a talk about color harmony and dress.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531433380}} |last1=Branch |first1=Loerfa |title=Germantown News: Clup Presents Artists |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=23 April 1936 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531016162}} |title=Phi Delta Kappas Hold Spring Meeting |newspaper=Afro-American |date=12 May 1934 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531460052}} |title=Councilman Irvin Lauded By Women |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=22 October 1936 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|530991537}} |title=Evelyn chats about society and folks |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=6 June 1929 }}</ref>
== Teaching career == Jones began working in the Philadelphia School District in 1916, the year he married Bertha Clearance, a teacher.<ref name=":3" /> For 25 years, he was a physical education – or “gym” - teacher, first at Logan Elementary School and then at the Walter George Smith school. He was known for counseling students from athletes to musicians to authors to artists. He organized track, basketball, volleyball and tennis teams at both schools. He coached 47 championship teams, and sent groups to the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1950, the Loganites, an organization of former Logan students, feted him with a banquet and plaque for his contributions.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531859682}} |title=Former To Honor Henry Jones |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=18 April 1950 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-04-22 |title=Loganites to Fete School Counsellor |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173724169/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532598275}} |last1=Saunders |first1=Jack |title=Jack Saunders Says |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=28 Oct 1972 }}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531371557}} |title=Our Children And Our Schools |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=28 February 1935 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531714634}} |last1=Lyle |first1=George |title=On the Limb |newspaper=Afro-American |date=29 April 1950 }}</ref> He was so beloved by one former student, a Philadelphia Tribune columnist, that the man started a campaign to hold an annual testimonial in Jones' honor.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532056459}} |last1=Saunders |first1=Jack |title='I love a parade' |work=Philadelphia Tribune |date=9 November 1954 }}</ref>
Jones was president of the Philadelphia District 2 of the Association of Pennsylvania Teachers, an organization of primarily Black school teachers, and created the cover for its souvenir book when the group met in Philadelphia in 1937.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531914615}} |title=Teachers Luncheon Is lmpressive Event |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=7 February 1950 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531489226}} |last1=McClarrin |first1=Otto |title=Younger Set Activities: A letter from the girlfriend |work=Philadelphia Tribune |date=5 August 1937 }}</ref> By 1954, he had retired from the school system.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532053857}} |last1=Saunders |first1=Jack |title=A 'Good Samaritan' Among Most Unsung Men Of Philly |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=31 August 1954 }}</ref>
== Artistic career == Jones worked in oil, watercolor, pastel, pen and ink and etchings.<ref name=":1" />
He exhibited most often in the 1930s, many times in local shows that included Allan R. Freelon and Laura Wheeler Waring. Both Jones and Freelon mentored Paul F. Keene Jr. as a teenager when he taught art classes at the Wharton Center in North Philadelphia. They were considered the “elder statesmen” of Black artists, and showed up to review and critique Keen's work.<ref>{{Cite book |title=We Speak: Black artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s |publisher=Woodmere Art Museum |year=2015}}</ref> Like other Black artists at the time, Jones exhibited sporadically in white galleries. Most shows by Black artists, noted artist and art historian James A. Porter, were in “churches, vestibules and reading rooms in public libraries, YMCA buildings or classrooms of public school buildings.”<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|202239831}} |last1=Porter |first1=James A |title=Process of the Negro in ART During the Past Fifty Years 50: Negro Artists Gain Recognition After Long Battle |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Courier |date=29 July 1950 }}</ref> They were also set up at local YWCAs.
Jones was praised as a “gifted” artist and was singled out in some of those exhibitions. In 1944, Crisis magazine described him as an “accomplished artist in oils as well as a writer” and listed him among Philadelphia’s “preeminent” citizens, along with Freelon, Dox Thrash and author Jessie Redmon Fauset.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Ralph H. |date=May 1944 |title=Crisis magazine: So, Philadelphia is Sleepy, Eh? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1sEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA135 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Google Books}}</ref> The arts writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer described him in 1932 as “decidedly gifted.”<ref name=":5" /> Thirty years earlier, in 1913, Crisis noted that he was developing a talent as a portrait painter, producing two works of Frederick Douglass.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=January 1913 |title=Crisis magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=henry+bozeman+jones&pg=PA117 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Google Books}}</ref>
== Exhibition history == Jones was represented in four of the annual exhibits of the Harmon Foundation, which offered a national showcase for Black artists starting in the 1920s. In 1929, he showed “Portrait of the Artist,” which won an honorable mention; “Biddie,” “Moonlight and Houses” and “Guardian of the Wood.” “Moonlight and Houses” and “Guardian of the Wood” were both sold during the initial Harmon showing at the International House in New York before works were sent out on a traveling exhibit. In the stop at the National Art Gallery in Washington in 1929, art critic Leila Mechlin wrote in a review that portraits by Jones, John W. Hardwick and Charles Dawson were “well painted, well constructed, strong, and give indication of good teaching, sound instruction in fundamentals.” <ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=1929 |title=Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by American Negro Artists at the National Gallery of Art |url=https://collections.si.edu/search/slideshow_embedded?xml=https://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/viewers/csc/viewer_fa_000311_B35_F03_D01.xml |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=American Negro Year Book |url=https://archive.org/stream/negroyearbook52tuskrich/negroyearbook52tuskrich_djvu.txt |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1929 |title=Exhibit of fine arts by American Negro artists / presented by the Harmon Foundation |url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll4/id/26101/rec/1 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1929-02-09 |title=Negro Artists' Work to be Traveling Exhibit |work=New York Age |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40788761/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite news |date=1929-03-30 |title=Negro Artists' Display and Indiana Exhibition Near End |work=Indianapolis news |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/37509198/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531011256}} |title=Many Paintings Sold At Art Exhibit |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=24 January 1929 }}</ref>
His submissions in the 1930 Harmon show were “Portrait Study,” “Miss Frances Waters,” “Raymond Rourke” and “Banks of Chaloon.” In 1931, Harmon chose “Dream Time,” “Mrs. Potter” and “Slim.” He was represented in a stop on the traveling tour in South Africa in 1931. In 1933, it was “Blues” and “Old Death.” An essay in that year’s catalog mentioned that the 135th Street Library in Harlem had featured Jones’ prints in a solo show.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|530847816}} |title=Exhibition of Negro Art in South Africa |newspaper=Afro-American |date=10 October 1931 }}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite web |date=1933 |title=Exhibition of work by Negro artists / presented by the Harmon Foundation |url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll4/id/26061 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1930-03-22 |title=Exhibition by Negro artists to be on view |work=Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ) |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/220662945 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":2" />
He exhibited in shows at Warwick Galleries and Print Club in Philadelphia. At the Warwick in 1931, he exhibited an oil and a watercolor. In 1932, “Old Death” was included in an exhibit of landscapes and portraits at Warwick. Rather than trying to explain the piece, a newspaper writer decided to use Jones’ own words:<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1931-12-13 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173850936 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1932-12-18 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173230772/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><blockquote>“The Gulla Negroes of the Carolina coasts have a tale which says that a buzzard alights on the roof of a house in which a person is dying. Just as the man dies the buzzard changes its form to that of a mighty many-hued bird, the little room of death seems without walls and the bird floats in and carries away the shining soul. Only those who are pious and godly may witness this strange departure of the soul.” <ref name=":5" /></blockquote>At that Warwick show, he also exhibited a study of trees called “Wind Scales,” along with “Jessup Street” and “The Voodoo Tree.” Later that year, he was singled out in a newspaper story for the oil “The Moon was Gracious.” In 1933, Jones was cited for his “distinct flavor and a high charm” in the painting “Respectability,” a “quaint name for a beautiful grouping of simple houses” (Freelon was among the exhibitors). Jones was noted for having the “best ‘idea’ picture” for “'Creation', the Biblical episode concerning the beginning of men and women but treated cosmically, so to speak, as if the event were accompanied by triumphant demonstrations on the part of the then-new nature.” In 1935, his entry was “Night,” which showed the head of a Black woman. In 1936, he contribute an oil painting (Freelon was again an exhibitor).<ref name=":17">{{Cite news |date=1936-06-07 |title=Notes from Art Galleries of Philadelphia |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/174482187/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":18">{{Cite web |last=Cederholm |first=Theresa Dickason |date=1973 |title=Afro-American artists; a bio-bibliographical directory |url=https://archive.org/stream/afroamericanarti00cede_0/afroamericanarti00cede_0_djvu.txt |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=archive.org}}</ref><ref name=":19">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1935-12-01 |title=Makers of prints are again art headliners |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/174396767/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":20">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1933-12-03 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176252393/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":21">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1933-12-17 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176291420/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref>
At the Print Club, he was selected from among artists from across the country in 1936 to participate in a show. “The reverence implicit in Henry B. Jones’ prayerful ‘Evening Rite’ has the simple appeal of the quattrocento,” a newspaper reviewer wrote. In 1935, he was one of 51 Black and white Philadelphia artists in the club’s seventh annual exhibition of prints, and was present again in the ninth exhibition in 1938. In 1940, a reviewer wrote that "Henry B. Jones indulges a bit in symbolism in his well drawn and cut block print 'Encore – Pagan Dance,' its two nude figures on a graveyard’s edge, telling the artist’s story in a fashion not to be misunderstood." In 1943, Jones' print “Another Crucifixion” featured tanks and planes during a time of war.<ref name=":22">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1936-03-08 |title=Annual Block Print Show and the Ten's Exhibition |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/174097923 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1935-11-03 |title=Print Club creations by Philadelphians |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/174395561/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":24">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=R. Edward |date=1938-01-02 |title=Print Exhibits Hold Sway: Show Features Phila. Artists |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171431221/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":25">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1940-03-24 |title=Two prizes presented at Print Club |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171078252 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":26">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1943-03-21 |title=Award for illustrator of Dostoevsky novel |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171403331/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref>
During an exhibit at the Gallery at the Plainfield Library in New Jersey in 1930, he exhibited "Elizabeth," a "well drawn figure, placed nicely on the canvas with good color in the flesh and gown," a reviewer wrote while also noting that “The Voodoo Tree” "is imaginative in subject, well designed and somewhat dramatic in arrangement of light and dark."<ref name=":11">{{Cite news |date=1930-03-29 |title=Social Notes |work=Courier-News (Bridgewater NJ) |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/220663571 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> At the John Reed Club in Philadelphia in1934, he participated in a show titled "The Social Trend in Art,” which presented artwork "illustrative of the artists’ feelings in respect to certain modern social conditions,” according to a reviewer. Others represented included Freelon, Thomas Hart Benton, Julius Bloch, Francis Criss, José Clemente Orozco, Thrash, Reginald Marsh and Benton Spruance.<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1934-04-15 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/166713005/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref>
Jones was recognized for his vitreographs, or etchings on glass. One reviewer noted that he had become a “specialist” in the medium. He exhibited two of them at the Print Club’s annual exhibit in 1932: “Masharia,” a study of a Black woman, and “Swamp Edge,” which showed his deftness with the medium, a reviewer wrote. At the club’s 1933 show, he exhibited “Elf Night,” and in 1934, “Got a Job.” Also in 1932, he showed a collection of vitreographs at the 135th Street Library show.<ref name=":14">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|226295098}} |title=African art shown at Harlem Library |newspaper=The New York Amsterdam News |date=28 December 1932 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1932-10-23 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173241469/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1934-11-11 |title=Print club has sixth annual exhibition of creations by Philadelphians |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/168144342/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1933-11-12 |title=In Gallery and Studio |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176371193/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> He also showed them at a 1932 show at Warwick where they were reported to have caused a “sensation.” <ref name=":5" />
In 1937, Jones spent some time in North Carolina and the Bahamas, and when he returned home, his traditionalist style of painting had changed.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1940 |title=Negro in Art : A pictorial record of the Negro artist and of the Negro theme in art |url=https://archive.org/stream/negroin00lock/negroin00lock_djvu.txt |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=archive.org}}</ref> Two years later, he presented 11 works in oil at the Gallery of American Contemporary Art in Philadelphia from the North Carolina leg of that trip, including “Tired Fields After Rains” and “Sharecropper’s Cabin.” Artist Samuel J. Brown Jr., with whom he also often exhibited, had watercolors in the show.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Joseph V. |date=1939-01-22 |title=Ban on race bias pledged by James |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171399238/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref>
In 1946, his work was shown in the fifth annual Atlanta University exhibition.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|490794421}} |title=Six New York Artists Win Seven A. U. Exhibit Awards |newspaper=Atlanta Daily World |date=31 March 1946 }}</ref> He also participated in shows at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia over several years. In 1948, he wrote the catalog’s foreword titled “The Pyramid Club Recognizes a Necessity.” His entry was a portrait of his son Perry in profile wearing a yellow coat against a soft green background. He also wrote the foreword for the 1949 catalog, noting that the focus that year was on expressionism. Another exhibitor that year was Samuel J. Brown Jr. He participated again in 1947 (along with Freelon) with “The Journey,” and in 1955 in its first annual fall show (its other shows were earlier in the year).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1949-02-20 |title=9th annual exhibit at club |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/172619573 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-10-23 |title=New art show at Pyramid Club |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/177493631/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1948-02-22 |title=Famous Artists Exhibiting in Pyramid Club's Annual |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176204019 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1947-02-23 |title=Humbert Howard's Art |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/172632935 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|225834170}} |title=Hospital Heads Hold Tenth Annual Meet |newspaper=New York Amsterdam News |date=6 March 1948 }}</ref>
At a show sponsored by the Henry O. Tanner Memorial Fund at Wharton Settlement in Philadelphia in 1946, he donated three works to community groups: “Hollis” to the Children’s Aid Society, “In Contour” to the Galilee Mission and “Here We Go Zoodoe” to Wharton Settlement.<ref name=":27">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531762197}} |title=5th Annual Art Show Successful Affair |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=1 June 1946 }}</ref>
His works were included in a major show in 1989 titled “Against the Odds: African Americans and the Harmon Foundation.” It was first mounted in the Newark Museum of Art and traveled to other cities in the United States.<ref name=":6" />
== As a writer == Jones wrote short stories and articles for Liberty, Romance and Opportunity magazines.<ref name=":1" />
Opportunity Magazine/Journal of Negro Life, the official organ of the National Urban League, published several of his short stories during the 1930s. In its September 1931 issue, the magazine published “Root Deena,” which followed an earlier story titled “Case Against God.” In the April 1932 issue, artist/cartoonist E. Simms Campbell illustrated Jones' short story “A Day Off.” In 1933, “Gin and Moonlight” garnered an honorable mention in Opportunity’s annual literary contest. The first installment of the story was published that year. His short story “Cletus” received an honorable mention in the 1934 contest.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|567127663}} |title=Richmond Is Discussed In Sept. 'Opportunity' |newspaper=New Journal and Guide |date=29 August 1931 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|226235903}} |title=Opportunity Award Goes to Chicagoan |newspaper=The New York Amsterdam News |date=7 July 1934 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531339089}} |last1=Jones |first1=Voight |title=Dental Health |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=12 October 1933 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|226253592}} |title=Discusses Methods Of Negro Business |newspaper=The New York Amsterdam News |date=6 April 1932 }}</ref>
Several of his stories were chosen for a list of the best short stories by Edward J. O’Brien, who issued annual anthologies of the best short stories by U.S. writers. In 1932, “Root Deena” and “Day Off” were picked. O’Brien chose “Gin and Moonlight” and “Jungle Blood” for an anthology he compiled in 1935.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|530938661}} |title=5 Opportunity stories picked by O'Brien |newspaper=Afro-American |date=5 November 1932 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-05-11 |title=Opportunity Authors Win Honors in O'Brien's List of Best Stories of Year |work=New York Age |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40804006/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref>
Jones’ short short story “No Jury” was published in the Pittsburgh Courier in 1939.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|202042773}} |first1=Henry Bozemon |last1=Jones |title='No Jury': Short story complete in this issue |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Courier |date=11 November 1939 }}</ref> He also illustrated and wrote a children’s book that was used in the public schools.<ref name=":6" />
== As an actor == A Harmon Foundation catalog from 1931 noted that Jones was an actor.<ref name=":2" /> In 1945, he portrayed Crispus Attucks in the series “Within Our Gates” on WFIL in Philadelphia in his radio debut performance. The series, sponsored by the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission, dramatized the lives of important Americans in an effort to combat intolerance and promote equal opportunity.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531731490}} |title=Standalone photo with caption |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=24 February 1945 }}</ref>
== As a portrait painter == Jones painted a portrait of Dr. Henry McKee Minton, an African American pharmacist who helped found Mercy Hospital for Black people in Philadelphia. The portrait is in the collection of the Mutter Museum in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-18 |title=Fellows Spotlight: Who was the first Black Fellow? |url=https://collegeofphysicians.org/programs/education-blog/fellows-spotlight-who-was-first-black-fellow |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=The College of Physicians of Philadelphia}}</ref> When Jones died, an obituary in the Philadelphia Tribune in 1971 stated that he had also painted a portrait of Dr. Eugene T. Hinson, also a founder of Mercy Hospital, and that both portraits were hanging in the lobby of Mercy-Douglass Hospital.<ref name=":1" /> Jones, Freelon, Minton and Hinson were members of the Philadelphia Club, an organization for Black men who were born in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|202029474}} |title=Nathaniel Dett Scores in Philly |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Courier |date=20 February 1937 }}</ref> The obituary also mentioned that a portrait he painted of Frederick Douglass was in the Douglass School in Wilmington, DE.<ref name=":1" /> In 1913, Crisis magazine stated that he had created two portraits of Douglass.<ref name=":8" /> He painted a portrait of the then-publisher of the Philadelphia Tribune, E. Washington Rhodes, in 1957.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532147575}} |title=Standalone photo |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=26 January 1957 }}</ref> == His death == Jones died on April 1, 1971, in Ambler, PA, after having lived for four years in a convalescence home.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532689366}} |last1=Lyn |first1=Eve |title='Isn't Life Dreamy': Sara Scott Reports On Links Oklahoma Confab |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=17 April 1971 }}</ref>
== Exhibitions ==
* John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN (Harmon Foundation traveling exhibit), 1929<ref name=":10" /> * Berean School, Philadelphia, 1930<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531000841}} |title=Mrs. Lawson Speaker At Berean Celebration Of Negro History Week |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=20 February 1930 }}</ref> * National Gallery of Art/ United States National Museum (Harmon traveling exhibit), Washington, 1930 <ref name=":9" /> * Gallery at Plainfield Library, New Jersey, 1930<ref name=":11" /> * Southwest YWCA, Philadelphia, 1933<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531283177}} |title=Southwest 'Y' Offers Treat To Art Lovers |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=19 January 1933 }}</ref> * Federated Colored Catholics Convention, Philadelphia, 1934 <ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531332409}} |title=Not Hypocritical |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=6 September 1934 }}</ref> * John Reed Club, Philadelphia, 1934<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":7" /> * New Jersey State Museum, 1935<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":18" /><ref name=":7" /> * 135th Street Library, Harlem, NY, 1935<ref>{{Cite book |date=2003 |title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XP48QWTmjyUC&dq=henry+bozeman+jones&pg=PA20 |access-date=2022-08-26 |isbn=9781438130170 |author1=Aberjhani |last2=West |first2=Sandra L. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1932-12-31 |title=135th Street Library Exhibiting 125 pieces of African Bronze |work=New York Age |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40897779/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":7" /> * Warwick Galleries, Philadelphia, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935 1936<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":18" /> * Print Club, Philadelphia, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1943<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":23" /><ref name=":24" /> * Howard High School, Wilmington, DE, 1936<ref>{{Cite news |date=1936-04-23 |title=54 exhibitions planned for annual art week |work=Wilmington Morning News (DE) |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/160804351/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> * Frances Harper Branch YWCA, Camden, NJ, 1937<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-02-13 |title=Negro Skill Exhibit opened by Pageant |work=Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/479544901 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> * Church School Institute, Baltimore, 1940<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531275713}} |last1=Neely |first1=Sara |title=Quaker Quips |newspaper=Afro-American |date=19 October 1940 }}</ref> * Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1945, 1946<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1945-10-07 |title=Ferguson Canvas Outstanding as Invitation Show Opens Art Season |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171466694 |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonte |first=C.H. |date=1946-03-10 |title=New Alliance Offerings |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=via newspapers.com. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171476577/ |access-date=2022-08-26}}</ref> * Wharton Settlement, Philadelphia, 1946<ref name=":27" /> * Fairview Golf Club (for Les Beaux Arts-Fairview Art Exhibition), 1949<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|531840344}} |title=Art Exhibit to be Held At Fairview Golf Club |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=3 May 1949 }}</ref> * William Penn Center, Fallsington, PA, 1958<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|532193080}} |last1=Poindexter |first1=Malcolm |title=On The Town |newspaper=Philadelphia Tribune |date=21 October 1958 }}</ref> * Newark Museum of Art, “Against the Odds,” (traveling exhibit), 1989<ref name=":6" /> * Gibbes Museum of Art, “Against the Odds,” (traveling exhibit), Charleston, SC, 1990 <ref name=":6" /><ref name=":29">{{Cite web |date=1989 |title=Research catalog: Against the odds : African-American artists and the Harmon Foundation |url=https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b11289980 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=New York Public Library}}</ref> * Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, “Against the Odds,” (traveling exhibit), 1990 <ref name=":6" /><ref name=":29" />
== Selected collections ==
* Metropolitan Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dance of the Rib #7, Henry Bozeman Jones, 1947 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/491356 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> * Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art |url=https://issuu.com/msmodular72/docs/baa_lg_square_the_melvin_holmes_collection_of_afri |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art}}</ref> * Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reflections, Henry Bozeman Jones |url=https://collection.blantonmuseum.org/objects-1/info/9258?sort=0 |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Blanton Museum of Art}}</ref> * Philadelphia School District<ref>{{Cite web |title=Art Collection Overview |url=https://www.philasd.org/arts/art-collection-overview/ |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=Philadelphia School District |archive-date=2018-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312084005/https://www.philasd.org/arts/art-collection-overview/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Michener Art Museum's Special Issue: Art Collections in Schools |url=https://www.philasd.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/144/2017/12/DDD-School-Newsletter_final-web.pdf |access-date=2022-08-29 |website=Philadelphia School District}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Henry B}} Category:1887 births Category:1971 deaths Category:People from Philadelphia Category:20th-century American people