Alun Leach-Jones b. 1937

  • Artist (Painter),
  • Artist (Printmaker)
Alun Leach-Jones was one of the generation of abstract artists who helped define Australian colourfield art in the 1960s. His precise intricate patterns have their roots in his early work as a painter of illuminated manuscripts. This evolved into an overall interest in pattern and colour.
Tags: Printmaker, Abstract art, Colour field painting, Painter
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Alun Leach-Jones was the son of a Welsh school teacher father and a Scottish mother. His parents had met in Liverpool, but shortly after Alun’s birth returned to rural North Wales where he became the local schoolmaster, and his son’s first teacher. Alun did not speak English until he was ten. In 1947 an uncle, who was recovering from the War, showed him how to paint watercolours. When the family returned to Liverpool, Alun

arrived in Australia in 1960. He is best known for his work as a painter and printmaker. Leach-Jones’ work is recognised as part of what was called “the New Abstraction” in Australian art. Leach-Jones’ work is highly regarded for his impersonal execution of open fields of intense colour with random, coloured forms in balanced configurations and smooth surface planes, a move away from Gestural Abstraction. His work is exhibited across Australian collections, most notably at Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV.
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/1951/

References
Smith, Bernard (1971). Australian painting,1788–1960. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Writers:
Date written:
2017
Last updated:
2017

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Date modified Jan. 3, 2018, 4:28 p.m. Jan. 3, 2018, 4:23 p.m.
Residences
  • c.1937 - c.1957 North Wales, UK
  • c.1957 - 1959 Liverpool, UK
  • 1960 - 1963 Adelaide, South Australia
  • 1964 - 1965 Europe
  • 1966 - 1977 Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1977 - Sydney, NSW
  • c.1937 - c.1957 North Wales, UK
  • 1957 - 1959 Liverpool, UK
  • 1960 - 1963 Adelaide, South Australia
  • 1964 - 1965 Europe
  • 1966 - 1977 Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1977 - Sydney, NSW
Field Changes
Biography