JONES, EDGAR REGINALD (1890-1948)

"The Staircase" (c.1930)
oil on card
24 x 28cm
signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney
 
Jones is a forgotten Australian Impressionist. He was born in Ballarat, and studied at the Ballarat School Of Mines Art School. He later moved to Melbourne to work as a professional artist. He specialized in figurative paintings in oil and watercolour. His best known domestic or interior scenes depicted events such as art gallery openings, ballet or dance recitals, dinner parties and even art auctions. Through the 1930s and 1940 he was a council member of the Victorian Artists' Society and the influential Independent Group of Artists, and regularly exhibited in their seasonal shows. He exhibited regularly alongside contemporaries Margaret Preston, Violet McInnes, Norah Gurdon, Joseph Wolinski, James Quinn, AME Bale, Eveline Syme, William Dargie, Bernice Edwell, Ernest Buckmaster, John Longstaff, Harry Harrison, Dora Wilson & Hans Heysen, at prestigious institutions such as the Athenaeum in Melbourne. A favourite of art critics of the time, he enjoyed regular glowing reviews, and amongst his biggest supporters included Sir Arthur Streeton & George Bell.