Singer-performer Grace Jones firmly established her signature androgynous look with this iconic image advertising her 1981 Nightclubbing album and subsequent concerts. With her taut, slim body, gleaming dark skin, square-cut hair, and broad-shouldered masculine jacket with the plunging neckline, Jones satirized gender and racial stereotypes with a fashion-conscious theatricality that became part of her performance. Jones had been a successful model in Paris and then part of Andy Warhol's circle and the disco dance scene of New York. Her cross-dressing, use of the body, and sexualized performance all echo the complex exploitation and subversion of stereotypes by African American performer Josephine Baker in 1920s Paris. Jones's sleek, trend-setting look echoes the African-inspired geometric stylization of Baker's day, as well as the minimalist aesthetic of her own.
Grace Jones
- Exhibition Label
- Born Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica
- Singer-performer Grace Jones firmly established her signature androgynous look with this iconic image advertising her 1981 album, Nightclubbing, and subsequent concerts. With her gleaming dark skin, geometric high-top fade hairstyle, and broad-shouldered masculine jacket with its plunging neckline, Jones satirized gender and racial stereotypes with a fashion-conscious theatricality that became part of her performance. The bold yellow background of the poster sets off the dark, gender-bending silhouette and underscores Jones’s sometimes confrontational style.
- Jones had been a successful model in Paris in the early 1970s and then part of Andy Warhol’s circle and New York City’s disco scene. Her performance style has been likened to that of African American singer and dancer Josephine Baker in 1920s Paris, mixing Baker’s African-inspired geometric stylization with a minimalist aesthetic all her own.
- Nacida en Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica
- La cantante y actriz Grace Jones implantó su singular estilo andrógino con esta icónica imagen promocional para su álbum de 1981, Nightclubbing, y los conciertos siguientes. Con su reluciente piel oscura, corte de pelo geométrico y chaquetas masculinas de hombros anchos y gran escote, Jones satirizó los estereotipos de raza y género con un teatral sentido de la moda que se hizo parte integral de su imagen. El fondo amarillo vivo del cartel destaca la silueta oscura, sexualmente ambigua de Jones y su estilo desafiante.
- Jones fue una modelo exitosa en París a principios de la década de 1970 y luego parte del círculo de Andy Warhol y la escena disco de Nueva York. Su estilo de interpretación se ha comparado con el
- de la cantante y bailarina afroamericana Josephine Baker en el París de los años veinte, combinando la estilización geométrica de inspiración africana de Baker con una estética minimalista muy suya.
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Artist
- Unidentified Artist
- Copy after
- Jean-Paul Goude, born 8 Dec 1940
- Sitter
- Grace Jones, born 19 May 1948
- Date
- c. 1981
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Chisholm Larsson Gallery, New York City
- Medium
- Color photolithograph with halftone
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 81.7 x 53.1cm (32 3/16 x 20 7/8")
- Board: 86.4 x 58.4cm (34 x 23")
- A to G Depth: 7/8"
- Type
