Charles Jones (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Charles Harry Jones was an English
gardener and photographer, noted for his still life
s of fruit and vegetables.
Born in Wolverhampton
, Charles Jones became a gardener working on a number of private estates in England from the 1890s. His gardening was noted for the quality of his flowerbeds and cultivation of fruits and vegetables. As a photographer, Jones was noted for his documentation of the fruits of his gardening labours. Jones also offered his services as a photographer to other gardeners.
His work was never exhibited in his lifetime and was largely unknown, even to his family, until it was discovered by accident in a suitcase, along with hundreds of other images of vegetables, fruits and flowers, in 1981 at Bermondsey
antiques market by Sean Sexton. Since Sexton's discovery the collection has slowly been dispersed by him through auction and by other means. It has been collected by institutions and private collectors and exhibited at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Musée de Elysée, Lausanne and at other venues. A monograph The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones was published in 1998.
Jones' work shares a spare, objective aesthetic with the photographers Karl Blossfeldt
, Wilson Addison Bentley
, Josef Sudek
and Edward Weston
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
gardener and photographer, noted for his still life
Still life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
s of fruit and vegetables.
Born in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, Charles Jones became a gardener working on a number of private estates in England from the 1890s. His gardening was noted for the quality of his flowerbeds and cultivation of fruits and vegetables. As a photographer, Jones was noted for his documentation of the fruits of his gardening labours. Jones also offered his services as a photographer to other gardeners.
His work was never exhibited in his lifetime and was largely unknown, even to his family, until it was discovered by accident in a suitcase, along with hundreds of other images of vegetables, fruits and flowers, in 1981 at Bermondsey
Bermondsey
Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.-Toponomy:...
antiques market by Sean Sexton. Since Sexton's discovery the collection has slowly been dispersed by him through auction and by other means. It has been collected by institutions and private collectors and exhibited at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Musée de Elysée, Lausanne and at other venues. A monograph The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones was published in 1998.
Jones' work shares a spare, objective aesthetic with the photographers Karl Blossfeldt
Karl Blossfeldt
Karl Blossfeldt was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher and artist who worked in Berlin, Germany. He is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things. He was inspired, as was his father, by nature and the way in which plants grow...
, Wilson Addison Bentley
Wilson Bentley
Wilson Alwyn "Snowflake" Bentley , born in Jericho, Vermont, United States is one of the first known photographers of snowflakes. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimed.-Biography:Bentley was...
, Josef Sudek
Josef Sudek
Josef Sudek was a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague.Originally a bookbinder. During The First World War he was drafted into Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1915 and served on the Italian Front until he was wounded in the right arm in 1916...
and Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
.