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“Mary Brice at Point of Honor” by Jon Roark (American) – Egg tempera on clapboard / 2018 – Lynchburg Museum (Lynchburg, Virginia) #WomenInArt #JonRoark #LynchburgMuseums #MaryBrice #BlackPortraiture #Roark #BlackWomenInArt #AfricanAmericanHistory #EggTempera #art #artText #2010sArt #PortraitofaWoman
American artist Jon Roark portrays Mary Brice seated before Point of Honor, a historic estate in Lynchburg, Virginia. Wearing a green-and-cream striped dress, a white headwrap tied with a bow, a ruffled collar, and an oval brooch, Brice occupies the foreground of the painting. Her expression is serious and composed, her eyes slightly lowered. One hand rests beside her while the other holds the stems of pink and pale flowers across her lap. A curving stone path leads toward the red-brick house behind her, placing Brice at the center of a landscape once sustained by enslaved labor. Mary Brice, whose surname was also recorded as Bryce, was an enslaved African American woman who lived and worked at Point of Honor during the 1850s. Little is known of her life, although historians believe she likely performed domestic duties, possibly as a cook, maid, or nurse. Around 1853, Lynchburg photographer Peter E. Gibbs made a daguerreotype portrait of Brice, now preserved in the Library of Congress. It is particularly significant as the only known identified photographic portrait of an enslaved Lynchburg resident taken before Emancipation. Roark based his painting on that remarkable photograph, preserving Brice’s seated posture, striped clothing, headwrap, and brooch while transforming its dark studio background into the grounds of Point of Honor. A decorated fan visible in the original photograph becomes a small bouquet of flowers. These artistic changes place Brice within the setting of her enslavement while giving her historical likeness renewed color and presence. Roark chose egg tempera, a traditional medium made by mixing pigment with egg yolk, for its luminous surface and rich appearance, qualities he believed his subjects deserved. By bringing an almost forgotten woman into the foreground, Roark encourages us to recognize her individuality and remember a life largely absent from written historical records.
November 3, 2026 at 2:59 AM