Jacobine Jones

{{short description|Canadian artist (born (1897–1976))}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jacobine Jones

| image =

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| birth_name = Phyllis Jacobine Jones

| birth_date = {{birth date text|1897}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = 1976

| death_place =

| nationality =

| spouse =

| education = Regent Street Polytechnic in London

| awards =

| known_for = sculptor

}}

File:Bank of Canada Building Relief.jpg

Phyllis Jacobine Jones {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|RCA|size=100%}} (1897–1976) was a sculptor. She was born in England, but emigrated to Canada in 1932.

{{Cite web |last1=Luckyj|first1=Natalie|title=Put On Her Mettle: The Life and Art of Jacobine Jones |url=https://www.penumbrapress.com/book.php?id=133 |access-date=2022-04-13 |website=Penumbra Press}}

Career

Jones traveled around Denmark, Italy and France with her mother for years until, at 28, she studied casting, carving, and modeling at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London{{Citation |last1=Glew |first1=Helen |title=Women at the Polytechnic |date=2013 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6zd9f6.14 |work=Educating Mind, Body and Spirit |volume=3 |pages=133 |publisher=University of Westminster Press |access-date=2022-04-13 |last2=Gorst |first2=Anthony |last3=Heller |first3=Michael |last4=Matthews |first4=Neil|doi=10.2307/j.ctv6zd9f6.14 |jstor=j.ctv6zd9f6.14 |url-access=subscription }} with Harold Brownsword and there she won a gold medal for her animal modelling. She then studied in Italy, Denmark, and France where she exhibited at the Salon. Her

figure of an equestrian St. Joan (1930) carved in Rouen stone was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and later exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, and purchased by that city for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.{{cite web |title=Collection |url=http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=advanced;dtype=d;_tkeyword=jacobine%20jones |website=collections.glasgowmuseums.com |publisher=Glasgow Museums |access-date=11 August 2022}} She moved to Canada in 1932, settled in York Mills, Toronto, and joined the Sculptors' Society of Canada in 1939.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada She also joined the Ontario Society of Artists (1951-1956).

From 1951 to 1956 she was the head of the department of sculpture at the Ontario College of Art.

In 1969, she had a solo show of her work at Rodman Hall, St. Catharines, Ontario. She lived at Niagara-on-the-Lake. She is represented in the National Gallery of Canada (RCA Diploma Coll.);{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/jacobine-jones |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=11 August 2022}} Art Gallery of Hamilton;{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://tms.artgalleryofhamilton.com/search/jacobine%20jones |website=tms.artgalleryofhamilton.com |publisher=Art Gallery of Hamilton |access-date=11 August 2022}} University of Guelph Art CollectionU.Guelph Art Collection by Judith M. Nasby, U.Guelph, 1980, P.180 and other galleries and private collections. In 1954, she was made a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.{{cite web|title=Members since 1880 |url=http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp |publisher=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts |accessdate=11 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526215339/http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp |archivedate=May 26, 2011 }}

There is a biography published called: Put On Her Mettle: The Life and Art of Jacobine Jones by Natalie Luckyj (1945–2002).{{Cite book |last1=Luckyj |first1=Natalie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45637335 |title=Put on her mettle: the life and art of Jacobine Jones |last2=Jones |first2=Jacobine |date=1999 |publisher=Penumbra Press |isbn=978-0-921254-94-2 |location=Ontario |language=English |oclc=45637335}} Jones' birthdate is sometimes listed as 1898, which is incorrect, and in some places her mother's last name, "Nielsen," is misspelt as "Neilsen." The fonds for the artist is available at Queen's University at Kingston Library archives.{{cite web |title=Jacobine Jones fonds |url=http://db-archives.library.queensu.ca/index.php/jacobine-jones-foundation-fonds |website=db-archives.library.queensu.ca |publisher=Queen`s University at Kingston library archives |access-date=11 August 2022}}

Work

Jones' work includes:

  • architectural sculpture for the Gore Vale Insurance building, Galt, Ontario (now Cambridge, Ontario), 1934
  • a sculpted family scene in prehistoric times, bearing the Latin legend "Sic Vita Vitalis" or "Thus Is Life Livable", above the main entrance to the Rogers Campus (once Confederation Life Headquarters) in Toronto.
  • on the 1937 Bank of Canada Building in Ottawa, Ontario, seven figures representing Canada's seven principal industries at the time: fishing, electricity, mining, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, and construction
  • figures of Scholar and Hockey Player on Kerr Hall, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto{{cite web |title=A Stone-age scandal |url=https://theeyeopener.com/2009/03/a-stone-age-scandal |website=theeyeopener.com |publisher=Ryerson U, 2009 |access-date=11 August 2022}}
  • six animal-themed bas-reliefs, including Walrus and Skunk, for the 1948 Bank of Montreal building at King & Bay Street in Toronto, removed to Guildwood's sculpture garden in 1972
  • sculptures of John Graves Simcoe, Isaac Brock, Samuel de Champlain, and James Wolfe on the Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Building now part of the University of Toronto, 1950{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Terry |date=2006 |title=Carved in Stone |volume=86 |pages=52–53 |work=Beaver |issue=3}}

Notes