Western Morning News (Saturday)
Discover the moorland magic in Jean Jones’ work
THE magic and mystery of the wild rugged landscape of Dartmoor has been captured by artists for centuries. From Peter de Wint, William and Frederick John Widgery, Samuel J Lamorna Birch, and even the great JMW Turner in the 18th and 19th centuries through to the contemporary artists of today.
However, there is one important Dartmoor painter who has all but been forgotten. Her name is Jean Jones and now her story is about to be told in a new exhibition at The Brownston Gallery in Modbury.
Born in London in 1927 Jean’s family moved to the picturesque village of Noss Mayo in Devon when she was a child, so that her father could recover after four years in the trenches of The Great War.
Jean briefly attended Saint Martin’s School of Art where she studied under the tutelage of Ruskin Spear, before taking up a place to read English at Girton College, Cambridge.
In 1949 she married John Jones, then a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford and later Professor of Poetry and quickly became immersed in literary life, counting J R R Tolkien, Iris Murdoch and William Golding in their close circle of friends.
Jean’s painting career culminated in a solo show at the Ashmolean Museum in 1980 where she was lauded by notable critic David Carritt, and her friend Iris Murdoch proclaimed that she would “one day be as famous as Van Gogh”.
Murdoch’s comparison was not unfounded. Jean was inspired to return to painting in the early 1960s by the letters of Van Gogh and her landscapes are heavily influenced by the Dutch master’s use of thick paint and vivid colours.
From their small cottage near Shaugh Prior, on the edge of Dartmoor, Jean became fascinated with the wild landscapes of Dartmoor which became a place of great significance and source of inspiration throughout her life. Recurring themes for her paintings are the standing stones at Ringmoor and the ever-changing River Plym which she captured beautifully in all its seasons.
Tragically, her career was curtailed by her struggles with mental illness.
Jean Jones died in 2012 leaving behind a treasure trove of over four hundred paintings. Now, her legacy and place in the history of post-war British art is being reclaimed.
The exhibiton Jean Jones (19272012), Dartmoor’s Forgotten Painter, is running between October 3 and October 24 at The Brownston Gallery, 36 Church Street, Modbury, Devon. Call on 01548 831338 or visit www.brownstonart.com