Alun Leach-Jones Explained
Alun Leach-Jones (1937 – 24 December 2017[1]), was a British-born Australian artist known for his range of work covering painting, drawing, sculpture, linocuts, screenprints and etchings.[2]
Early life
Born in Maghull, Lancashire, in the UK, his family moved to the village of Glasfryn in North Wales where he spent his childhood. In 1951, age 14, he began a three-year apprenticeship with the Solicitors Law Stationery Society Limited in Liverpool, where he was employed as a painter of illuminated manuscripts. He studied art at the Liverpool College of Art from 1955 to 1957 before moving to Adelaide, Australia in 1960, where he studied printmaking at the South Australian School of Art under Udo Sellbach.
Work
During 1964–65, Leach-Jones moved back to London, where he produced screenprints influenced by the British pop art of fellow artists Patrick Caulfield and Eduardo Paolozzi. He returned to Australia and settled in Melbourne in 1966.[3]
During the sixties, Leach-Jones was recognized as part of what was then called "the New Abstraction" in Australian art. His work developed into a style still known as Hard-edge painting.[4] Alun Leach-Jones was included in the now notorious 1968 The Field exhibition held at the National Gallery of Victoria.[5]
In 1971 Leach-Jones received a Master Diploma from the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne.[6]
In 1978, he painted a permanent mural called Sydney Summer for Macquarie University in Sydney.
In 1979, he painted a mural called Crossing to Capricorn for Griffith University in Brisbane.
Exhibitions
- 1968 The Field, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne[7]
- 1964–92 Australian Galleries, Melbourne
- 1967–1972 Watters Gallery, Sydney
- 1970–84 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
- 1976–82 Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney
- 1976–86 Solander Gallery, Canberra
- 1987–91 Luise Ross Gallery, New York, USA
- 2005–12 Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney
Collections
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Art Gallery of South Australia
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- National Museum Cardiff
- British Museum, London
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
- Glynn Vivan Art Gallery, Swansea
- Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth, Wales
- Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
- National Gallery of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
- National Performing Arts Centre, Bombay
- Parliament House Collection, Canberra
- Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand
- Perth Cultural Centre, Western Australia
- Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
- Art Bank, Sydney
- Western Sydney University Art collection
- Castlemaine Art Museum[8]
Awards
External links
- Images of Leach-Jones' prints held by the National Gallery of Australia at http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Search.cfm?CREIRN=11929&ORDER_SELECT=1&VIEW_SELECT=4
- Images of Leach-Jones' prints held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales at http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=leach-jones-alun
- Transcript of Interview by James Gleeson with Alun Leach-Jones 23 May 1979, National Gallery of Australia at http://nga.gov.au/Research/Gleeson/artists/Jones.cfm
Notes and References
- Web site: Art: Alun Leach-Jones. McDonald. John. 2018-05-11. The Sydney Morning Herald. en. 2020-01-30.
- Book: Sayers, Andrew. Drawing in Australia. 1989. Oxford University Press. Melbourne. 0-19-554920-1.
- Book: Hendrik Kolenberg, Anne Ryan. Australian Prints: from the Gallery's collection. AGNSW. 1998. Sydney. 0-7313-8912-3.
- Book: Smith, Bernard. Australian painting,1788–1960. 1971. Oxford University Press. Melbourne. 0-19-550372-4.
- Book: Allen, Christopher. Art in Australia: From Colonization to Postmodernism. 1997. Thames and Hudson. London. 0-500-20301-6. registration.
- Book: Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia. 1990. Craftsman House. Sydney. 976-8097-02-7.
- Book: Grishin, Sasha. Australian Printmaking in the 1990s. 1997. Craftsman House. Sydney. 1-875247-15-7.
- Web site: Alun Leach-jones (b.1937) . 2023-09-02 . Castlemaine Art Museum Collection Online . en.
