BOECHO GALLERY

'The art of photography remains fascinating because of the individuals who arrive from unexpected places and take the medium through a lifetime of changes.....Colin Jones followed an unusual path into photography, having been member of the Royal Ballet until his late twenties. While on tour with the Royal Ballet in the North of England, he began to take pictures of the mining and shipbuilding communities. In the early 1960s he gave up dancing to begin a new career as a photographer at the Observer....Jones has often thought as dance informing his photography.'

MARK HAYWORTH BOOTH FROM 'THE GRAFTERS' 2002

COLIN JONES

Born in East End, London in 1936

1952 ENGLISH ROYAL BALLET

Jones bought his first camera (LEICA 3C RANGEFINDER) whilst on tour as a ballet dancer with the English Royal Ballet in Japan, running an errand for Dame Margot Fonteyn. From this highly unorthodox starting point as a photographer Jones has since become one of the most celebrated and prolific photographers of post-war Britain.

His work has been published in every major publication with any regard for the image, such as LIFE MAGAZINE and the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

STUDY

Tutored by Hungarian Photographer Michael Peto (Whilst at the Royal Ballet)

PHOTOJOURNALISM

1960's -Documentation of the hedonism of Swinging London with his famous picture of The Who in their early career
• Documentation of streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Gorbals, Glasgow

1962 THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE - Photographer for The Observer newspaper from 1962

1963 Documentation of the RACE RIOTS IN ALABAMA
• Documentary commissions to New York, USA

• Documentary commissions to Liverpool, England

1960 Documentary commission in Philippines

1973-76 THE BLACK HOUSE - Afro-Caribbean youth in London in the Islington based Harambee housing project
• THE GRAFTERS - vanishing industrial working lives of the Northeast of England

1978 Documentary commission in Jamaica

1980 Documentary commission in Zaire

1981 Documentary commission San Blas Islands

1982 Documentary commission - IRELAND

1984 XIAN, CHINA

1994 LADAKH, Norther India

1996 Bunker Hill, KANSAS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1977 THE BLACK HOUSE, The Photographer's Gallery, London

2007 THE BLACK HOUSE, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

2013 NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART, WASHINGTON DC

2014 FIFTY YEARS OF THE WHO, Proud Camden, London