Ernest Yarrow Jones

Ernest Yarrow Jones (1872–1951) was a British oil and watercolour painter, sculptor, and illuminator. He exhibited widely in Britain and France, including at the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon, and commissioned Black Gable, a purpose-built studio-house in Hythe, Kent.

Early life and education

Jones was born in Liverpool on 13 July 1872 to Edward Jones, a wholesale tea merchant, and Elizabeth Jane Jones. He grew up in Liverpool and North Wales, at Groudd, Cerrigydrudion, alongside his siblings Helena Jones, Arthur Edward Jones, and Osman Wynne Jones.

Educated at Parkfield School, Liverpool and Liverpool College Upper School, he matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford on 26 October 1891 to study law. He studied art at the Westminster School of Art and at South Kensington Art School in England, and later at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi in Paris.

Career

Jones developed a love of nature study in childhood which later informed his artistic focus on animals and landscapes. His artistic career began around 1899, his works spanning a range of artistic media, including oil painting, watercolour painting, sculpture, and decorative book art.

His illustrative work includes The Childhood of Animals (1912) and Apple of Beauty and Discord (1920).

Jones exhibited in Paris from around 1905, subsequently showing his work at a number of Salons including the Beaux-Arts, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants.

He signed his works “E. Yarrow Jones” in block letters. The couple lived in Hythe, Kent at Black Gable, a house adapted specifically for their use situated on the south-facing hills behind the town.

Black Gable included a large artist's studio, planned to provide a strong north light, a smaller west-facing window for writing, and large south-facing doors to allow work on marble in direct sunlight. The studio opened onto a small formal garden with flagstone paths and terrace walls.

On extended trips to Paris, Jones lived for many years at 65 Boulevard Arago.

In his later years he lived in Exmouth, Devon, where he died in 1951.

Selected Works