Born in Croydon, Barbara Jones was a prolific artist who produced painting, printmaking, book illustration and mural designs. A student of the Royal College of Art, London (1933-37) she was influenced especially by the linear styles of Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious. She was one of the first artists commissioned by The Pilgrim Trust to depict historic buildings under threat from war damage, for the ‘Recording Britain’ project in the 1940s. In 1951 she published The Unsophisticated Arts, which featured British vernacular art forms such as fairgrounds, tattooing and canal boats. This book is now a popular collector’s item. Cited by the artist, Peter Blake as a major forerunner of 1960s British Pop Art, Jones never gained the wider recognition that she deserved, although she held several important positions including Associate of the Royal Academy, and Governorship of Central School of Arts from 1956-1964.
