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== Photographer ==
== Photographer ==
Whilst still a dancer Jones took advantage of the Royal Ballet’s tours to photograph extensively in the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1961. Driving with fellow dancers from [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] to [[City of Sunderland|Sunderland]] that year, he saw, north of [[Birmingham]], coal searchers on the spoil-heaps. In 1962, having changed his career to become a photographer<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clark, David | title=Photography in 100 words : exploring the art of photography with fifty of its greatest masters | publication-date=2009 | page=52|publisher=Focal | isbn=978-0-240-81300-4 }}</ref><ref>"The photographer feels that modern dancers lack passion" Times [London, England] 23 Dec. 2000: ^. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.</ref> for ''[[The Observer]]'' he returned to produce a series of photographs recording the vanishing industrial working poor and mining communities in the [[North East England|North East]] of England,<ref>Books: Dockers' families a rein the frame' Liverpool Echo [Liverpool (UK)] 22 Mar 2003: 29.</ref> later publishing the essay as the book ''Grafters''<ref>{{Citation | author1=Jones, Colin | title=Grafters | publication-date=2002 | publisher=Phaidon | isbn=978-0-7148-4253-0 }}</ref><ref>Strangleman, T. (2005). Book Review: Grafters. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 445-446.</ref><ref>Prowse, P. (2005). Book Review: Labor Revitalization: Global Perspectives and New Initiatives. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 443-445.</ref><ref>Joanna Pitman. "Picture gallery of delights and images to conjure with." Times [London, England] 7 Dec. 2002: 19[S3]. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.</ref> Jones admired the available-light backstage photography of [[Michael Peto]], a [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] émigré, who agreed to [[Mentorship|mentor]] him. In 1966 he photographed the British rock band [[The Who]] at the beginning of their career.<ref>Maximum Who: The Who in the Sixties: the Photographs of Tony Gale, Colin Jones, Chris Morphet, Dominique Tarle, David Wedgebury and Baron Wolman. Genesis Publications, 2002.</ref><ref>Neill, A., Kent, M., & Daltrey, R. (2009). Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958-1978. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc..</ref>
Whilst still a dancer Jones took advantage of the Royal Ballet’s tours to photograph extensively in the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1961. Driving with fellow dancers from [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] to [[City of Sunderland|Sunderland]] that year, he saw, north of [[Birmingham]], coal searchers on the spoil-heaps. In 1962, having changed his career to become a photographer<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clark, David | title=Photography in 100 words : exploring the art of photography with fifty of its greatest masters | publication-date=2009 | page=52|publisher=Focal | isbn=978-0-240-81300-4 }}</ref><ref>"The photographer feels that modern dancers lack passion" Times [London, England] 23 Dec. 2000: ^. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.</ref> for ''[[The Observer]]'' he returned to produce a series of photographs recording the vanishing industrial working poor and mining communities in the [[North East England|North East]] of England,<ref>Books: Dockers' families a rein the frame' Liverpool Echo [Liverpool (UK)] 22 Mar 2003: 29.</ref> later publishing the essay as the book ''Grafters''<ref>{{Citation | author1=Jones, Colin | title=Grafters | publication-date=2002 | publisher=Phaidon | isbn=978-0-7148-4253-0 }}</ref><ref>Strangleman, T. (2005). Book Review: Grafters. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 445-446.</ref><ref>Prowse, P. (2005). Book Review: Labor Revitalization: Global Perspectives and New Initiatives. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 443-445.</ref><ref>Joanna Pitman. "Picture gallery of delights and images to conjure with." Times [London, England] 7 Dec. 2002: 19[S3]. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.</ref> Jones admired the available-light backstage photography of [[Michael Peto]], a [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] émigré, who agreed to [[Mentorship|mentor]] him. Commissioned assignments took him to New York 1962; Liverpool Docks 1963; the race riots in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, where he made portraits of both 'Bull' Connor, and Dr Martin Luther King 1963; Leningrad, USSR 1964. In 1966 he photographed the British rock band [[The Who]] at the beginning of their career, <ref>Maximum Who: The Who in the Sixties: the Photographs of Tony Gale, Colin Jones, Chris Morphet, Dominique Tarle, David Wedgebury and Baron Wolman. Genesis Publications, 2002.</ref><ref>Neill, A., Kent, M., & Daltrey, R. (2009). Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958-1978. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc..</ref> and Pete Townshend, then Mick Jagger (1967). He travelled to the Phillipines in 1969 where he photographed the sex trade.


== The Black House ==
== The Black House ==

Revision as of 12:43, 23 May 2016

Colin Jones (born 1936) a ballet dancer-turned-photographer and prolific photojournalist of post-war Britain, documented facets of social history as diverse as the vanishing industrial working lives of the Northeast coalfields (Grafters), delinquent Afro-Caribbean youth in London (The Black House), hedonistic 1960s ‘Swinging London’[1] with pictures of The Who early in their career, the 1963 race riots in Alabama, Soviet Leningrad, and remnants of a rural Britain now lost to history.[2]

Ballet dancer

Colin Jones was born in 1936. He experienced a war childhood with his father, an East End printer, away as a soldier on the Burma campaign, and frequent evacuations and relocations which meant attending 13 different schools, struggling with dyslexia, before the age of sixteen, when he took up ballet lessons. He was accepted into the Royal Ballet School and joined the touring company, and it was whilst on tour that, running an errand for Dame Margot Fonteyn, he purchased his first camera in 1958 and started taking photographs of the dancers and backstage life during the Australian leg of the tour. Jones was briefly married to the great ballerina Lynn Seymour.[3]

Photographer

Whilst still a dancer Jones took advantage of the Royal Ballet’s tours to photograph extensively in the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1961. Driving with fellow dancers from Newcastle to Sunderland that year, he saw, north of Birmingham, coal searchers on the spoil-heaps. In 1962, having changed his career to become a photographer[4][5] for The Observer he returned to produce a series of photographs recording the vanishing industrial working poor and mining communities in the North East of England,[6] later publishing the essay as the book Grafters[7][8][9][10] Jones admired the available-light backstage photography of Michael Peto, a Hungarian émigré, who agreed to mentor him. Commissioned assignments took him to New York 1962; Liverpool Docks 1963; the race riots in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, where he made portraits of both 'Bull' Connor, and Dr Martin Luther King 1963; Leningrad, USSR 1964. In 1966 he photographed the British rock band The Who at the beginning of their career, [11][12] and Pete Townshend, then Mick Jagger (1967). He travelled to the Phillipines in 1969 where he photographed the sex trade.

The Black House

Jones was commissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine in 1973 to document the Islington-based Harambee housing project for Afro-Caribbean youth. The front cover article 'On the edge of the Ghetto' resulted from his frequent visits to the dilapidated terraced house on Holloway Road, a refuge for troubled young black men which was run by a charismatic Caribbean migrant, Brother Herman Edwards.[13][14] The project, often visited by the police, was an irritant to neighbours who complained of noise and overcrowding. Jones gained the trust of the youths he photographed, many of whom embraced their portrayal in the media as iconic delinquents, reinforcing their status as outcasts.[15] Never officially named The Black House, the building was given this name both by residents and by newspaper editors in their headlines. This first generation of Afro-Caribbean young people to be born in Britain experienced prejudice and disadvantage in education, employment and with the law, and Jones' humanised what had been a one-sided news story. Supported by grants from the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Arts Council,[16] Jones continued to photograph the project until 1976 when the housing project dissolved.

Recognition

Jones’ work has been published in major publications including Life,[17] and National Geographic, as well as many supplements for major broadsheet newspapers. In his later career he covered assignments around the world, including Jamaica 1978; Tribesmen of the New Hebrides and Zaire 1980; Tom Waits, New York 1981; San Blas Islands 1982; Ireland 1984; Xian, China 1985 and Bunker Hill, Kansas 1996. Solo exhibitions have been devoted to his work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and at The Photographers Gallery in London, as well as at many other leading galleries. Martin Harrison’s ‘Young Meteors'[18] associated Jones with other important British photographers including Don McCullin and Terence Donovan.[19]

Recent Exhibitions

Recent solo exhibitions of Colin Jones

  • Michael Hoppen Gallery GB: Retrospective - Colin Jones. 5 May – 3 Jun 2016
  • Michael Hoppen Gallery GB: The Black House - Colin Jones. 1 Jun – 1 Jul 2007

Recent group exhibitions of Colin Jones

  • Michael Hoppen Gallery GB: JERUSALEM - John Davies, Charles Jones, Colin Jones. 7 Oct – 12 Nov 2011
  • britart gallery GB: Stars of the East - Peter Blake, Colin Jones, Frank Worth. 1 Dec – 31 Dec 2002

Recent Auctions of Colin Jones’ photographs:

  • Bloomsbury Auctions GB: SMILE: Photographs and Photobooks from the 1960s. Work by Jean Clemmer, Martine Franck, Robert Freeman, Ernst Haas, David Hurn, Colin Jones, Michael Joseph, Douglas Kirkland, Jean-Pierre Laffont, Emilio Lari, Sam Lévin, Leon Levinstein, Iain Macmillan, Gered Mankowitz, Jim Marshall, Angus McBean, Lewis Morley, NASA Alain Nogues, Terry O’Neill, Norman Parkinson, Tony Ray-Jones, Willy Rizzo, Tazio Secchiaroli, Bert Stern, Ronald Traeger, Bob (Robert) Whitaker. 15 May – 19 May 2016

References

  1. ^ Sixties uncovered.(Features) Anna Burnside Sunday Times (London, England), May 20, 2007, p.1
  2. ^ Schofield, Jack, 1947- (1983). How famous photographers work. Amphoto, New York, N.Y p.32-25
  3. ^ “Lynn Seymour…on tour with the second company [of the Royal Ballet] in the Far East during 1961 […] had grown close to Colin Jones, a dancer with the corps who was taking photographs of everything he saw. “I didn’t meet her…she met me,’ says Jones. He wouldn’t have dared approach her, since she was one of the stars of the company and he was low down the hierarchy. ‘She was fascinated by photography and by the places we saw on tour.’ He took her to areas the other dancers did not visit, such as the slums of Manila and Hong Kong, and talked of things otters than dance. ‘I was beginning to lose the faith,’ he says of his ballet career. ‘I was already thinking of leaving and starting up as a photojournalist.’ Parry, Jann (2009), Different drummer : the life of Kenneth MacMillan, Faber, p. 251, ISBN 978-0-571-24302-0
  4. ^ Clark, David (2009), Photography in 100 words : exploring the art of photography with fifty of its greatest masters, Focal, p. 52, ISBN 978-0-240-81300-4
  5. ^ "The photographer feels that modern dancers lack passion" Times [London, England] 23 Dec. 2000: ^. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.
  6. ^ Books: Dockers' families a rein the frame' Liverpool Echo [Liverpool (UK)] 22 Mar 2003: 29.
  7. ^ Jones, Colin (2002), Grafters, Phaidon, ISBN 978-0-7148-4253-0
  8. ^ Strangleman, T. (2005). Book Review: Grafters. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 445-446.
  9. ^ Prowse, P. (2005). Book Review: Labor Revitalization: Global Perspectives and New Initiatives. Work, Employment & Society, 19(2), 443-445.
  10. ^ Joanna Pitman. "Picture gallery of delights and images to conjure with." Times [London, England] 7 Dec. 2002: 19[S3]. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.
  11. ^ Maximum Who: The Who in the Sixties: the Photographs of Tony Gale, Colin Jones, Chris Morphet, Dominique Tarle, David Wedgebury and Baron Wolman. Genesis Publications, 2002.
  12. ^ Neill, A., Kent, M., & Daltrey, R. (2009). Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958-1978. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc..
  13. ^ Jones, Colin; Phillips, Mike, 1941- (2006), The black house, Prestel, ISBN 978-3-7913-3671-8{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Brooke, S. (2014). Revisiting Southam Street: Class, Generation, Gender, and Race in the Photography of Roger Mayne. Journal of British Studies, 53(02), 453-496.
  15. ^ "'They were the hardest people Ive ever had to photograph,' comments Jones on the assignment. 'They trusted no one.' The intimacy of these images belies that statement, for clearly the inhabitants of The Black House came to trust Jones."Jones, Colin; Phillips, Mike, 1941- (2006), The black house, Prestel, ISBN 978-3-7913-3671-8{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Arts Council of Great Britain Edition (1979) Arts Council collection: a concise, illustated catalogue of paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculpture purchased for the Arts Council of Great Britain between 1942 and 1978. The Council, 1979
  17. ^ Colin Jones. "« Rudolf Nureyev in his Sixties HEYDAY»." Times [London, England] 16 Dec. 2006: 4[S5]. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 22 May 2016.
  18. ^ Harrison, Martin; National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television (Great Britain) (1998), Young meteors : British photojournalism, 1957-1965, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-05129-3{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Savage, Jon (2015). 1966 : the year the decade exploded. London Faber & Faber
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