The About Face catalogue allows you to explore the work and biographies of the 30 artists included in the original Face of Jamaica exhibition that toured Germany and the UK between 1963 and 1964. Scroll through pages sorted by surnames alphabetically.
CARL ABRAHAMS (1913-2005)
Abrahams developed his caricature style while at high school. As a young man he was influenced by Augustus John during that British artist's 1937 visit to Jamaica. Working as a caricaturist for the Daily Gleaner, Abrahams was successful in all-island competitions during the 1950s but was essentially self taught. Arguably revered as 'the father of Jamaican art', he is definitely viewed as one of its important pioneers.
The Last Supper
1955
National Gallery of Jamaica
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica
Portrait of a Girl
RALPH CAMPBELL (1921-1985)
Born 1921, Kingston, Jamaica. Attended the DaCosta Institute of Arts and Crafts, Kingston; Goldsmiths College, London and Chicago School of Art and Design. One of Jamaica's pioneer painters known for his watercolours and fresh, spontaneous brushwork.
The Old Settlement
pre-1957
National Gallery of Jamaica
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica
LESLIE CLERK (1895-1975)
Born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, of Jamaican parents, born January 7, 1895, died January 12, 1975, Toronto, Canada. Leslie Clerk had a business importing, tuning and repairing pianos which he inherited from his uncle Astley Gunter Clerk. A very close friend of Norman and Edna Manley, he attended Jamaica School of Art and Crafts as an evening student studying sculpture. He was a most sociable and gregarious person.
ALEXANDER COOPER (b.1934)
Born in Enfield, St Mary, Jamaica. Won a government scholarship to the Jamaica School of Art, and graduated in 1959. During the 1960s, he studied at the Art Students’ League and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He was the recipient in 1962 and in 1964 of first prize in the Jamaica National Fine Arts Competition. Has exhibited widely locally and abroad and has become renowned for his images of old time Jamaica.
HENRY DALEY (1919-1951)
Born Portland, Jamaica. One of the first students to attend Junior Centre classes at the Institute of Jamaica. Taught by Edna Manley and Vera Cumming. Exhibited in Kingston and abroad before his untimely death in 1951 just as formal programmes in art were being established at the Jamaica School of Art.
JOHN DUNKLEY (1891-1947)
Born in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, Jamaica, on 10 December 1891, Dunkley left Jamaica when he was 14 to travel through Central and South America and to go to Europe and North America as a sailor before he settled in Panama. It is believed that Dunkley was introduced to art in Panama by the photographer Clarence Rock. He returned to Jamaica in 1926 and opened a barber shop on Kingston’s Princess Street, where H.D. Molesworth, Secretary of the Institute of Jamaica, saw his paintings. His barber shop became a centre for political discussion and he was known for his independence of thought. Was exhibited locally through the Institute of Jamaica and later praised as Jamaica's earliest and foremost self-taught artist.
GLORIA ESCOFFERY (1923-2002)
Born in Gayle, St. Mary, Jamaica. Received BA from McGill University, Montreal, Canada; attended Slade School of Art, London. Exhibited in Jamaica, Britain, United States, Germany, Trinidad, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Also a respected art critic and teacher.
ANNA-MARIA HENDRIKS
Born 1932, St. Andrew. Became interested in drawing and painting through her mother; she began lessons with Leslie Clerk in painting and composition in 1950. She also attended classes in sculpture at the Jamaica School of Art and Crafts from 1951-1960 as an evening class student. She was the head of the art department at Immaculate Conception High School from 1959 until August 1974. Painting, sculpture, mosaic and studying art history have been her lifelong interests. She has written extensively on art and artists.
ALBERT HUIE (1920-2010)
Born Falmouth 1920, Falmouth, Trelawny, Jamaica. Studied at Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada with British Council Scholarship to London in the 1950s. Exhibited widely in Jamaica and the USA. Many awards including the Gold Musgrave Medal, 1974.
EUGENE HYDE (1931-1980)
Born 1931, Portland Jamaica. Studied at the Art Center School, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Art Institute, California. Returned to Jamaica in 1961 to work in the advertising industry and to become a founding member of the Contemporary Jamaican Artists’ Association (1964-c. 1973). He also taught at the Jamaica School of Art. Known as one of Jamaica’s first abstract artists, he exhibited extensively, but died tragically at a relatively early age.
Colonization II
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