Alfred Janes
| Alfred Janes | |
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 Alfred Janes c. 1960 at his studio in Nicholastan Hall, Gower, Wales |
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| Birth name | Alfred George Janes |
| Born | June 30, 1911 Swansea, Wales |
| Died | February 3, 1999 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Field | Painting, drawing |
| Training | Royal Academy Schools, London |
Alfred George Janes (30 June 1911 – 3 February 1999) was a Welsh artist, who is also remembered as one of The Kardomah Gang; a group of bohemian friends that included the poets Dylan Thomas and Vernon Watkins, and the composer Daniel Jones.[1][2]
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[edit] Early life
Janes was born on 30 June 1911, above his parents' fruit and flower shop in Castle Square, Swansea city centre.[3][4][5] He attended Swansea Grammar School and then the Swansea College of Art.[4] At the age of 16, he exhibited at the 1928 National Eisteddfod, held in Treorchy that year.[1] Three years later, while he was still concentrating on still lifes and portraits, he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Arthur Lovell, the Mayor of Swansea.[1][4] In 1931, he painted a portrait of a 17 year old Mervyn Levy, thought to have been the painting that won him a scholarship to study art at the Royal Academy Schools in London.[2][6] Although he didn't complete the three year course, his drawing tutors included Tom Monnington.[2] While in London, he shared several flats in and around Chelsea with contemporaries; at first with William Scott, the Scots-Irish artist Janes met at the Royal Academy Schools.[1][2][4]
[edit] The Kardomah Gang
In 1932, Janes became part of a group of bohemian Swansea friends that included Charles Fisher, poets Dylan Thomas, John Prichard and Vernon Watkins, composer and linguist Daniel Jones, artist Mervyn Levy and "Marxist scholar" Bert Trick.[7] Collectively, they became known as The Kardomah Gang or The Kardomah Boys, named after the Kardomah Café, in Castle Street, Swansea, where they would meet.[4][8] The Café stood opposite the offices of the South Wales Daily Post, to which Fisher and Thomas were apprenticed in 1930, after they had left school.[7]
National Museum of Wales collection
Although Janes and Thomas had been to the same school, they were separated by a few years (Thomas was born in 1914), so didn't know each other until after their schooldays. They first met in 1932, through their mutual friend Daniel Jones.[8][9] In 1934, Janes, Thomas and Levy shared a flat at number five, Redcliffe Street, Earls Court and, subsequently, at Coleherne Road, Earls Court.[8][10] In one of a series of radio broadcasts in the early 1950s, Dylan Thomas described how they shared rooms while Janes was "a student at the Royal Academy of Arts". He went on to describe Janes' paintings in detail and that: "After many Academy awards, and several paintings hung in London galleries, he returned to Swansea to work and experiment, which were synonymous." [11] Janes created three portraits of Thomas. The first, painted in Coleherne Road, in 1934, is oil on canvass. The method Janes used during this period was to cut lines into the paint with his pen-knife, to provide relief and focus.[10] When Janes decided to return to Swansea in 1936, he left his accumulated works behind. Most are now lost, however, some of his paintings and drawings, including the portrait of Dylan Thomas, had been acquired by Cedric Morris and Augustus John, to form part of an exhibition of Welsh artists held in Cardiff.[2] The portrait was purchased by the National Museum of Wales in 1935; it remains a part of their collection.
Later, he "...complicated the technique by marking a polygonal grid on to the board before painting the subject, and then retracing and incising it into the finished painting. In this way he was able to achieve a unique crystalline brilliance of image." [5] The second portrait is held by the University of Wales, Swansea. The last is pen and ink on paper, drawn around 1964; it forms part of the permanent collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea.[12] He also produced portraits of Vernon Watkins; James Govier, the painter, etcher, and engraver; William Grant Murray, the painter and head of Swansea school of Art; and Gwillym Thomas, the ceramic artist.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Alfred Janes". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC. 3 March 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/alfred-janes/. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Gooding, Mel (6 February 1999). "Obituary: Alfred Janes". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-alfred-janes-1068986.html. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Baines, Menna et al., eds (2008). "Janes, Alfred (1911–99) Artist". The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
- ^ a b c d e "Centenary celebration of Kardomah Boy’s legacy". Western Mail. 19 March 2011. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/arts-in-wales/2011/03/19/centenary-celebration-of-kardomah-boy-s-legacy-91466-28363591/. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Still Life With Hyacinths - Alfred Janes". City and County of Swansea. 20 December 2008. http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=21975. Retrieved 20 March 2011. "a)Alfred Janes attributed his skill in creating still-lifes to his having been born over a fruit & flower shop in Swansea's Castle Square. b) Technique quotation taken from (Alfred Janes 1911-1999 p.5)"
- ^ "Current Exhibition: Alfred Janes - Centenary Exhibition". Kooywood Gallery. Kooywood Gallery. date=18 March 2011. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:G59YWZb550IJ:www.kooywoodgallery.com/display.php%3Faid%3D248+Kooywood+Alfred+Janes&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari&source=www.google.co.uk. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Dylan Thomas and the Kardomah set". The Independent (London). 11 February 2006. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/dylan-thomas-and-the-kardomah-set-525736.html. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ a b c "The 1930s - Dylan Thomas". dylanthomas.com. City and County of Swansea. 25 October 2010. http://www.dylanthomas.com/index.cfm?articleid=5396. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ "Alfred Janes". dylanthomas.com. City and County of Swansea. 2011. http://www.dylanthomas.com/index.cfm?articleid=10648. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Art collections online: National Museum Wales: Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), JANES, Alfred (1911 - 1999)". Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. 2011. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/art/online/?action=show_item&item=869. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
- ^ Thomas, Dylan; Maud, Ralph; Jones, Daniel (1992). Maud, Ralph. ed. On the Air with Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts. New Directions Publishing. pp. 220 & 221. ISBN 0811217876. http://books.google.com/books?id=aE7eS_vRXS0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
- ^ "Portrait of Dylan Thomas - Alfred Janes". City and County of Swansea. 26 August 2010. http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=38799. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
[edit] External links
- Bream - Alfred Janes c. 1935 held in the National Museum Cardiff collection
- Still Life With Hyacinths - Alfred Janes 1930s held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea collection
- White Hyacinths - Alfred Janes 1930s auction records
- Study for Portrait of Daniel Jones - Alfred Janes 1949 held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea collection
- Portrait of Vernon Watkins - Alfred Janes 1949 held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea collection
- Portrait of William Grant Murray - Alfred Janes c. 1951 held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea collection
- Portrait of Dylan Thomas - Alfred Janes c. 1964 held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea collection
- Alfred Janes - Centenary Exhibition held in the Kooywood Gallery, Cardiff
