Mervin Jules graduated from Baltimore City College in 1930. Although his parents encouraged him to pursue a career in music, he felt compelled to follow his calling to art. He completed a four-year program at the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts and then enrolled at the Art Students League in New York to study under Thomas Hart Benton. Jules was employed by the Fine Arts Project of the New York WPA in the silk screen unit. His first one-man exhibition in New York City at age 25 launched a career as painter, printmaker, illustrator and art teacher that spanned more than five decades.

Jules held teaching positions at the Fieldstone School, the Museum of Modern Art, and at Smith College (1945-50s). He was a trustee of the Cummington School of Music and Art and Provincetown Art Association, and was on the board of the Institute for Study of Art in Education (U.S. Government).

His work was exhibited in numerous museum and public shows

including the Art Institute of Chicago 1938-41; the Baltimore Museum of Art, 1936-46 (prize 1936, 1939, 1940); the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1938, 1940-49; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annuals, 1939, 1943, 1948-50; the Museum of Modern Art, 1941 (prize), the World's Fair New York, 1939; the Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, 1939; Canegie Institute, 1941, 1944-45; the Brooklyn Museum; the Corcoran Gallery Bienniel, 1945; the San Francisco World's Fair; Artists for Victory (sent to England); and the Boston Printmakers, 1967 (honorable mention).

Mervin Jules' work is represented in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Carnegie Institute, the Illinois State Museum, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Phillips collection, the Portland Art Museum (OR), the Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Edition not stated. Signed in pencil.

Image size 10 15/16 x 6 15/16 inches (278 x 176 mm); sheet size 15 3/4 x 12 inches (400 x 305 mm).

A fine, rich impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 3/4 to 2 13/16 inches). Pale mat toning within an existing mat opening, otherwise in excellent condition.

$650.

Edition not stated. Signed, titled and annotated PROOF in pencil.

Image size 10 7/16 x 13 1/16 inches (265 x 332 mm); sheet size 14 x 16 inches (356 x 406 mm).

A rich, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper; full margins (1 1/4 to 2 inches). Minor surface scuffing in the image, otherwise in excellent condition.

$450.