Myrtle Jones

Myrtle Jones (January 23, 1913 – February 15, 2005) was an artist whose paintings commonly featured streetscapes and architecture of Savannah, Georgia, as skillfully as portraits.

Jones was born in Winder, Forsyth County, Georgia and moved to Savannah in 1943. A professional hairdresser, Jones formally took in the works painting in 1950 next she studied at the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences below Emil Holzhauer (among others). Despite this training she has been identified as a self-taught artist, and considered herself to be self-taught. In 1964 she purchased a home on Gaston Street in Savannah's historic district and used it as her house and studio through the remainder of her career.

Jones' work is considered clear for its relation of avant-garde and representational approaches. During the 1950s and ahead of time 1960s, she utilized strong colors, brushstrokes and lines in her portraits, which Jones referred to as her "dark and bold period". Her innovative works gravitated towards buoyant colors to Make a "faded" effect. Throughout her career Jones depicted everyday computer graphics in Savannah, through subjects including urban streetscapes, buildings, landscapes, and portraits of locals. Jones was a prolific painter, possibly creating thousands of works within her lifetime. She posthumously donated some of her paintings to the Telfair Museum of Art along when a one million dollar endowment.