GWYNNE-JONES, Allan

1892 - 1982

Allan Gwynne-Jones was born at Richmond, Surrey on 27 March 1892, son of Llewellyn Gwynne-Jones (1 July 1862-4 February 1943), a solicitor, and his first wife Evelyn née Hooper (May 1870-24 September 1954), a china painter, who was born in Dublin, Ireland but they later divorced. Allan was educated at Miss Clare Berry's School, Folkestone 1899-1902 and at Bedales School, Hampshire 1902-1910 and studied law 1911-1914 under solicitor William Joynson-Hicks (1865-1932), later 1st Viscount Brentford, and awarded a senior scholarship by the Law Society and qualified as a solicitor, but never practised. In 1921 mother and son were living at 43a Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Whilst qualifying as a solicitor, he followed his mother's love of art and began painting watercolours of the Blyth Valley in Suffolk, having visited Southwold as a child, and maintained a home at Wenhaston. Becoming acquainted with Albert Rutherston (1881-1953) and, with his encouragement, painted a series of exquisite watercolours on silk, of East Anglian subjects which included one of Southwold Fair 1912. In 1914, he began a course at the Slade School of Fine Art, but three months later was commissioned into the Welsh Guards Cheshire Regiment and was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 being awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). After demobilisation in 1919, he taught at the Royal College of Art where he became Professor of Painting 1923-1930, a position that he resigned and joined the staff of the Slade School of Fine Art and continued teaching at the Slade until 1958, being renowned for his own painting, most notably portraits and paintings of flowers. He exhibited at the Arthur Tooth Gallery, London in 1937 'Wenhaston Morning' which was described as 'a composition devoid of interest...colour is flat and lifeless', he also exhibited at the New English Art Club; Grosvenor Gallery and at the Royal Academy from 1931. He married at St Pancras, London in 1937, Rosemary Elizabeth Allan (2 October 1911-2008), eldest child of Henry Perceval Allan (1881-1966), shipbroker of Bromley, Kent, and his wife Ethel Howard née Buchanan. Rosemary had been a pupil of Gwynne-Jones at the Slade, they had a daughter, Emilie Gwynne-jones who, like her father, became a gifted artist, and a son. Elected an Associate of the Royal Academy on 22 April 1955 and a member on 22 April 1965 and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1980. Owing to failing eyesight he gave up painting in 1979 and Allan Gwynne-Jones died in the Northleach Hospital, Gloucestershire on 5 August 1982.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 95 South Road, Hampstead, Northwest London
1931 176 Rings Green Farm: Autumn Afternoon

from Metfield Farm Lane, Fressingfield, Suffolk

Late Allan Gwynne-Jones
1983 1123 Still Life with Picked Onions 1955
         1124 Mrs Smith 1923
         1125 Wild Flowers on a Window Sill 1969
         1126 Early Summer Morning, Spring 1922
         1127 Poppies and Marguerites in Two Jars, 1954
         1128 Emmy as a Bridesmaid, 1954

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Works by This Artist