The Art of David Jones: Vision and Memory

Description

This book offers a concise and highly readable account of the visual art of David Jones (1895-1974). It challenges the simplistic view of Jones as an outsider or an eccentric, exploring his work instead in relation to the wider cultural and intellectual climate of his times. The authors focus on works of outstanding quality, including engravings from the 1920s, watercolours from 1926-32 and the most significant of Jones's later mythological drawings as well as his studies of trees and chalices and his unique painted inscriptions. Analysis of Jones's technical virtuosity in diverse media enlarges our understanding of his highly original visual language and the symbolism that sustains it. The book also explores the relation of Jones's art to his Christian faith and his understanding of place and history. Copiously illustrated, The Art of David Jones not only offers fresh insight into the career of a multi-talented British artist, but also adds to our understanding of the art and cultural history of Britain from the First World War through to the 1960s.

Ariane Bankes worked for many years in publishing and the commercial art world. Her articles and reviews have appeared in a range of publications including the Spectator, the RA Magazine and the Times Literary Supplement. She edits the Charleston Trust's magazine Canvas, and she collaborated with Jonathan Reekie on The New Aldeburgh Anthology (2009). Paul Hills is Professor Emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. He curated the major David Jones retrospective at the Tate in 1981 and convened the centenary conference on the artist at the University of Warwick in 1995. His previous publications include The Light of Early Italian Painting (1987) and Venetian Colour: Marble, Mosaic, Painting and Glass, 1250-1550 (1999).

'This is the first true attempt to encompass the art of David Jones in its entirety, from his poetry and paintings to his inscriptions. It is a lucid and beautiful account of a major artist who has eluded proper scrutiny. This is a magisterial book. I loved it.' Edmund de Waal 'Now that David Jones's stature as artist and poet is becoming more and more firmly established, it is particularly important to have a book like this as an orientation to his complex, exhilarating work. Comprehensively learned, superbly produced - with an unprecedentedly wide range of illustrations - and lively in its exposition, it is undoubtedly one of the most significant studies yet of David Jones, a landmark in the understanding of his work in words and images.' Dr Rowan Williams '...one of its chief joys is the wide range of illustrations, while the accompanying text is both readable and informative. Ariane Bankes and Paul Hills have sensibly divided the narrative and analysis of Jones's life in art between them...their combination makes a book at once authoritative and enthusiastic.' Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator