Allen Jones, R.A.

London, Arthur Tooth & Sons, Allen Jones, British Paintings & Sculpture Today, April 1962, no. 5, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue.

The canvas is in good original condition. The paint surface is in good overall condition. There is no sign of retouching under ultra-violet light. Held behind glass in a white wooden box frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Although Allen Jones is often associated with the rise of Pop art in Britain, his works from the early 1960s drew more inspiration from artists and art theory, and the writings of Jung, Freud and Nietzsche than from contemporary popular culture. In particular, Jones was interested in the automatic writing and drawing which came out of Surrealist work and theory, and the power of dream to tap into the subconscious. As well as reading Freud and Jung, Jones would record his own dreams.

In order to convey this creativity, Jones needed to find a pictorial language which could combine observed reality with the freedom of abstraction. Seeing the work of a few of the Abstract Expressionists, and Jackson Pollock's first British exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1958 in particular, provided Jones with the visual stimulation he needed. 'I remember the Pollock show at the Whitechapel, which was breathtaking. It represented a world of possibility and a painting language totally foreign to the tuition I was getting at art school. It showed that the persistence of figurative reference was compatible with abstract formal preoccupations.' (Letter from Allen Jones to Marco Livingstone, 26^th September 1978 in Allen Jones, exh. cat., Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1979, unpaginated).

The colour theory of Kandinsky, and Jones' experience of seeing Kandinsky's works in the flesh, was also instrumental to his artistic development. In the present work, a spectrum of juxtaposed colour pulsates across the upper half of the canvas and descends into an expanse of darkness, as if responding to Kandinsky's perception of the canvas as a flat plane which could be brought to life with colour. The colour combination and presentation gives a sense of speed and action which is comparable to the effect seen in Parachute Fragments (lot 84), in which the title emphasises the sense of rapid movement. The title of the present work, Here and There Faces, brings a variety of abstract associations relating to movement into the mind of the viewer, but it is significantly referential to inform the viewer of the figurative, objective content. In the words of the artist, '...the reason for... painting is that it is really discussing the language of how people see things.' (Transcript from "Obsessive Image" interview with Anne Seymour, recorded 3^rd May 1968, amended by the artist 26^th September 1978 in Allen Jones, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1979).