Allen Jones (b.1937) - 20th Century Lithograph Runnymede

Description

Condition

In fine condition.

Size

37 x 45cm (14.6" x 17.7")
Framed Size: 54 x 64cm (21.3" x 25.2")

Artist Biography

Allen Jones is a painter, sculptor and lithographer who was born in Southampton. He trained at Hornsey College of Art 1955-59 and at the RCA 1959-60 before returning again to Hornsey College of Art, 1960-61. His RCA peers included Ron Kitaj, David Hockney and Derek Boshier. Between 1961 and 1963 he taught lithography at Croydon College of Art and during the period 1964 to 1965 Jones lived in New York and travelled in the USA with his friend David Hockney. He held his first solo exhibition in 1963 at Arthur Tooth & Sons where he continued to exhibit until 1970, thereafter showing at the Waddington Galleries. He has exhibited regularly abroad, in group exhibitions and at the RA since 1976, being elected an Associate of the RA in 1981 and a full member in 1986. Retrospective exhibitions have been held in 1978 at the ICA and in 1979 at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He has taught at Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art and at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg, the University of South Florida, the University of California at Irvine and Los Angeles, the Banff School of Fine Art, Alberta, and at the Hochschule fur Kunste, West Berlin. In 1966 he was awarded the Tamarind Lithography Fellowship, Los Angeles, and between 1969 and 1970 he designed sets and costumes for the musical “Oh Calcutta” in London. His sculpture commissions include work for the International Garden Festival, Liverpool, 1984.

Influenced by Abstract Expressionism and by his peer Ron Kitaj, his paintings combine figurative and abstract elements and employ different styles, contrasting flat shapes with highly modelled forms. Since the 1960’s the subject of his work has been the preoccupation of contemporary society, in particular, sexuality and fetishism. Ideas on the nature of male and female characteristics drawn from the theories of Jung and Nietzsche are economically expressed, often by secluded sexually compelling fragments of female figures painted in burning colours. He is known widely for his prints and photographs, paintings and contributions to the British Pop Art scene. His exhibitions include the Paris Biennale (several, between 1961 and 1977), Tokyo Biennale 1964, 1966, 1974, Hayward Gallery, 1969, Marlborough Fine Art, Waddington Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, between 1972 and 1979.

His work is represented in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, Museums Sheffield, National Museum of Wales, Warwick University Art Collection, ACGB, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, BC, WAC, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Southampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Ulster Museum, V&A, NPG and MOMA, New York. Jones was elected RA in 1986 and a solo exhibition of his sculpture was held at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in 1992.