Colin Jones: the “George Orwell of photography”

 

Colin Jones has been described as the “George Orwell of photography”

“They look like something described by Orwell in one of his political essays, like photographs from the 1930s to illustrate “The Road to Wigan Pier”. cloth caps and granite faced dockers” Katherine Viner, Sunday Times Magazine 13th October 1996

Born in the East End of London during the Blitz, the young and dyslexic Colin Jones had attended 13 different schools when he was recruited by the Royal Ballet – an event that changed his life, – described as the prototype for Billy Elliot, Jones’ life journey reads like a Hollywood movie which saw  him tour with the Royal Ballet performing alongside Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, and  in Kenneth Mac Millans’ “The Invitation” with Prima Ballerina Lynn Seymour, who he later married.

Jones bought his first camera whilst on tour in Japan, running an errand for Dame Margot Fonteyn and started taking photographs. These photographs capture the reality of life as a ballet dancer – the hard work and dedication required to succeed, and revealed the ballet as it had never been seen before.

Jones left the ballet in 1962 and went to see The Observer Magazine who employed him to go and photograph the Alabama Race Riots of 1963, and subsequently many other events including the Brazilian gold mines, gangs in Jamaica, prostitution in the Philippines, the boy soldiers of the Khmer Rouge, the Cargo Cults of the New Hebrides who worshipped Prince Phillip. He was fortunate to be working at the heyday of investigative and photo-journalism, alongside photographers such as Don McCullin and Philip Jones Griffiths, under the editorship of Harold Evans at the Sunday Times.

Jones, has documented facets of British social history over the years as diverse as the vanishing industrial working lives of the Northeast (Grafters), marginalised Afro-Caribbean youth in London (The Black House) and the high-octane hedonism of Swinging London in the 1960’s with his iconic images of The Who early in their career (Maximum Who).

His work has been published in every major publication that respects the image, including Life, National Geographic and in many supplements for the major broadsheets. Jones has had exhibitions at The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, The Photographers’ Gallery in London, The National Portrait Gallery London, Tate Modern and the Hayward..

This exhibition celebrates his early career, some of the images  have never been shown or seen before It also coincides with the launch of his website, which has been in the making for the past two years. We have really only just scratched the surface of his incredible archive and the process will be continuing over the next few months as we unearth more work.

See www.colinjonesarchive.com

For press images or an interview with Colin Jones please email Lucy Bell at [email protected] or call 07979407629

Copyright © Colin Jones, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Lucy Bell Gallery
46 Norman Road
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN38 0EJ
01424 434828
07979 407629
[email protected]
www.lucy-bell.com

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

 

 


This entry was posted on in homepage. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.