A life in Lithography & Original Printmaking

by Denise Ballard-Wyllie ARE, Committee Printmakers Council, UK

Photos: Steve Mumberson

 

Stanley Jones MBE was a founder member and president of the Printmakers Council, UK, (PmC ) set up in order to educate the public about original prints and push the boundaries of printmaking in new exciting ways, and not be limited by the traditional conventions of that time

I first met Stanley Jones MBE at a Printmakers Council Committee meeting in Clerkenwell more than 30 years ago when I was studying for my Masters in Printmaking at Wimbledon School of Art.

The Printmakers Council office was so tiny that our large committee held its meetings in a space outside the office.  Dominated by a huge oval table, everyone around it projected their voices across the table to get a word in, until Stan spoke and the room fell silent: this softly spoken gentleman offered his considered insight and wisdom and everyone was spellbound.His voice was like soothing waves. We craned our heads to listen to his gentle tone uttering vibrant strong and radical words. Massive respect in the room.

“Who is this bloke” I wondered. Now I know.

Stanley was a front-runner in the emergence of original printmaking in the UK.

He was a key figure responsible for the emergence of a printed, creative art form that is unique and hand made. An ‘Original Print’ is conceived as a printed artwork not a reproduction of another. Each print may not be perfectly identical and considered original. Generally they would be printed in small editions, or even ‘one offs’. Each print may have the human touch seen in there somewhere, even if a machine was used to help create it.

 

He developed an understanding of printmaking early on before he set foot in his first art school, in Wigan. He went on to study at the Slade School of Art and later with the legendary William Hayter at Atelier 17, Paris and ‘apprenticed’ to Patris Gerard’s atelier in Montparnasse. After many twists and turns, he set up a lithography studio making original prints for Curwen Press, called Curwen Studio and helped set up Curwen Education Centre.

Aspects that singled him out as an artist and master printmaker were for me his incredible expertise, his openness, patience and lack of ego. He was a passionate believer in art for all people, the antithesis of snobbery and elitism in art. This aspect of his character was to later impact on me personally.  I now realize that we shared some affinity partly because he was a working-class man from Wigan of a Wesleyan non-conformist education. This also explains a lot about his nature and beliefs.

 

 

At a time when lithography was for specialist technicians and not creatives he was introducing its potential to artists and students of art. He lived to see it flourish; printmaking became established as a respected media, and being affordable, prized by new collectors.

But his vision was later almost destroyed as art schools changed into education businesses who counted ‘customers‘ and aspired to more ‘bums on seats’, rather than their status of being award winning places of excellence and learning for students. Most art and printmaking departments were reduced to a fraction of their former selves and beautiful printmaking presses were thrown into skips.

Stanley Jones was for more than 40 years a top specialist working with artists as well as finding time for his own creativity, no mean feat.

With Stanley, lithography was a calling. He wanted to preserve lithography and keep its beauty centre stage encouraging new young artists to follow.  As mentioned, he created the Curwen Education Centre; a specialist lithography establishment so people could see and physically make a print by hand so this complex technique would survive and not lost to memory with only computer manipulated graphics and mechanical reproductions remaining.

He was modest and kind and looked beyond the usual conventions in his unique way. I discovered this in 1995 when he made me Honorary Research Assistant at the Slade.

I can attest to Stanley’s wisdom.  As a painter as well a printmaker Stan knew that lithographers work in the intuitive way painters think. It’s a magical process with wonderful manipulations and organic surprises.

Stanley attracted the stars of the art world and collaborated with art history’s ‘great artists’ some of whom, through lack of printmaking knowledge, would have pushed any other person beyond their patience, but not Stanley Jones.

The list of artists he worked with for many years go on and on. I will name a few who spring to mind, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Frink, John Piper, Henry Moore, Paula Rego, Victor Passmore, Mary Fedden, Patrick Proctor, David Hockney, RB Kitaj, Prunella Clough, David Gentleman, Lynn Chadwick and of course his old tutor, who he assisted at the Slade in their early understanding of lithography, Ceri Richards.

Stanley died peacefully this February a mere two months after his beloved wife Jenny passed away in December 2022. Their life together began at the start of Curwen Studio and the formation of the Printmakers Council.

The members of The Printmakers Council send their deepest respect and condolences to his children Liza and Matthew and family.

Stanley Jones MBE was a rare and wonderful example of a decent human being who was kind and helpful who, without trampling over others, achieved monumental things.

He won the respect of all of those whose lives he brushed. People loved him. So did I.