The Politics of Art
Paul R. Jones chose to donate his extensive collection of African American art to the University of Delaware, but not without making sure an HBCU would benefit.

By Robin V. Smiles

On more than one occasion Paul R. Jones has been entangled in some of America's most politically and racially charged events of the 20th century. At the height of Jim Crow, he was denied admission to the University of Alabama's law school on the basis of race. During the dawning of the civil rights movement, he weathered controversy by hosting Black and White leaders from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in his Birmingham restaurant. In the late 1960s, he helped mediate the Watts riots in Los Angeles as a community relations specialist for the government. And just months before Watergate, he was in charge of rounding up the Black vote during the campaign to re-elect Nixon.
And just as he has mixed business and politics so strategically in his professional life, the 72-year-old Jones has ventured to do the same with his private collection of 1,000 pieces of African American art. The collection includes sculptures, paintings and photographs by Black artists such as Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Selma Burke, David Driskell and Herman "Kofi" Bailey and is currently being appraised to assess its monetary value.
"I love my art and I am passionate about it, but I also try not to divorce the business of art  — the politics of art," says Jones.
The politics of art?
Where others might view a genre such as African American art in isolated grandeur, for a conscious collector such as Jones it is more important to place that glory in the broader context of American art. The result is a chance to put African American artists in, as Jones describes, "their rightful place."
Such politics lies behind his recent decision to donate his collection to the University of Delaware. The president of the university, Dr. David P. Roselle, made the announcement Feb. 14. The university has a strong program in American art, as well as one of the top art conservation programs. Those two elements were key to Jones' quest to find a home that would not only benefit his collection, but African American artists, students and scholars.