Jonah Jones (sculptor)

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Jonah Jones
Jones in 2001
Born
Leonard Jones

(1919-02-17)17 February 1919
Wardley, Gateshead, County Durham, England
Died29 November 2004(2004-11-29) (aged 85)
Known forsculpture, writing, graphics

Leonard Jones (17 February 1919 – 29 November 2004), generally known as Jonah Jones, was born in

calligrapher.[2] He was also Director of the National College of Art and Design
in Dublin for four years.

Upon leaving school in 1935 at the age of 16, Jones secured a post as assistant at the public library in Felling on Tyneside. The librarian, Mona Lovell, became a close friend and mentor to him, encouraging his cultural interests and introducing him to Quakerism (for a time he attended the Friends’ meeting in Newcastle-upon-Tyne).[3]

Life

The eldest of four children, Jones was born in 1919 near

First World War, his mother came from Yorkshire.[2]

Registering in the

6th Airborne Division, taking part in the Ardennes campaign and the airdrop over the Rhine at Wesel in March 1945.[2] Together with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, to which he was attached during operations, Jones was among the first Allied troops to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15 April 1945. It was in the army that he gained the nickname “Jonah”, which he would adopt when he embarked on his artistic career.[4][5]

Jones served with 224 Parachute Field Ambulance in British Mandate Palestine from October 1945, transferring to the Army Education Corps in May 1946. While working at the army’s Carmel College in Haifa, he met and married Judith Grossman, a local Jewish woman (later known in Wales as a writer under the name Judith Maro). They would go on to have two sons and a daughter.[6]

Following

demobilisation in 1947, Jones' career began in a shared practice with the artist John Petts at the Caseg Press in Llanystumdwy,[7] North Wales, followed soon after by a short, intensive stay at the workshop of the late Eric Gill, where he learned the techniques of lettering and carving in stone.[2][1]

During the 1950s Jones established a full-time workshop practice, one of the few who were able at that time in Wales to earn a living solely from art.[1]

Art

Jonah Jones worked in many media. He cut letters in

David Jones was a major influence. He also produced two published novels, a book of largely autobiographical essays, an illustrated book about the lakes of North Wales, and a biography of Clough Williams-Ellis, the architect of Portmeirion.[1]

In 1982 he spent a year at Gregynog Hall, working with Eric Gee and David Vickers on the book, Lament for Llewelyn the Last, for which he designed the title page. In later years the Gregynog Press commissioned several designs from him.[1]

Stained glass by Jonah Jones in Ratcliffe College Chapel

Jonah Jones's major public commissions include work for the chapels of

Mold Crown Court, Flintshire. His private work is marked by a preoccupation with Christian imagery and biblical themes (particularly that of Jacob), the Welsh mythological tales of the Mabinogion
, the landscape of North Wales, and the Word.

Jones' Madonna and Child, Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire

He found time, too, to work in the field of art education, acting as external assessor or examiner to many colleges of art throughout the UK from the 1960s to 1992. He served on the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design, which reorganised the UK’s art colleges into a decentralised system, from 1961–1971. For four years he was director of Dublin’s National College of Art and Design, 1974–1978, when he was also a director of the Kilkenny Design Workshops.[1]

He spent his last fourteen years in Llandaff, Cardiff, no longer able to do heavy sculpture, but still painting. His treatment of Welsh subject matter and working of Welsh-language texts were abiding themes throughout his half-century career in Wales.

He died on 29 November 2004, aged 85.[1]

Selected writings

  • A Tree May Fall, Bodley Head, 1980,
    ISBN 0-370-30320-2
  • The Lakes of North Wales, Whittet Books, 1983,
    ISBN 0-905483-54-5
  • Zorn, William Heinemann Ltd, 1987,
    ISBN 0-434-37734-1
  • The Gallipoli Diary, Seren Books/Poetry Wales Press Ltd, 1989,
    ISBN 1-85411-010-1
  • Clough Williams-Ellis: Architect of Portmeirion, Seren Publishing/Poetry Wales Press Ltd, 1996,
    ISBN 1-85411-214-7
  • Dear Mona: Letters from a Conscientious Objector, edited by Peter Jones, Seren Books/Poetry Wales Press Ltd, 2018,
    ISBN 978-1-78172-479-8

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Meic Stephens (2 December 2004). "Jonah Jones Artist-craftsman in the tradition of Eric Gill". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Euan Cameron (14 January 2005). "Jonah Jones Letter carver and artist, he learned his craft at Eric Gill's workshops". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  3. ISBN 978-1-85411-556-0
    .
  4. ISBN 978-1-78172-479-8
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-85411-556-0
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-85411-556-0
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-85411-556-0
    .

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jonah Jones.
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