Clive Hicks-Jenkins (born 11 June 1951) is a Welsh artist known especially for narrative paintings and artist's books. His paintings are represented in all the main public collections in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, as well as others in the United Kingdom, and his artist's books are found in libraries internationally. A retrospective exhibition comprising some 200 works from across the artist's career loaned from public and private collections was held by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

in 2011 to coincide with his sixtieth birthday. A substantial multi-author book devoted to his work was published by

Lund Humphries Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in ...

in 2011, in which

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View (1985 ...

called him "one of the most individual and complete artists of our time".

Biography

Clive Hicks-Jenkins was born in Newport, south

, in 1951. His father worked for the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

and his mother was a hairdresser. He attended Hartridge Comprehensive School in Newport but was unhappy there and at the age of twelve he moved to the Italia Conti School in London, where he studied theatre, worked as an actor in films and television and took classes at the

Rambert Ballet School Rambert is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ángel Rambert (1936–1983), Argentine-born French footballer *Eugène Rambert (1830–1886), Swiss author and poet *Marie Rambert (1888–1982), Polish-born dancer and pedagogue *Pas ...

. In the late 1960s he was a performer and puppeteer with Cardiff's Caricature Theatre. During the 1970s and 1980s he worked as a choreographer, director and stage designer, creating productions with among others the

Vienna Festival __NOTOC__ The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allie ...

, the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...

Theatr Clwyd Theatr Clwyd () is a regional arts centre and producing theatre from Mold, Flintshire, in North East Wales. It opened as Theatr Clwyd in 1976, but was known between 1998 and 2015 as Clwyd Theatr Cymru, before reverting to its original name. His ...

and Cardiff New Theatre, where he was Associate Director. Since the 1990s he has concentrated on his work as a visual artist. He contributed a short autobiographical essay to a substantial monograph about his work, ''Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' by

''et al'' (Lund Humphries, 2011). He has had solo exhibitions at the Martin Tinney Gallery in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art in Bath, the Kilvert Gallery, Cardiff New Theatre, Oriel Theatr Clwyd, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery, MOMA Wales,

Christ Church Picture Gallery Christ Church Picture Gallery is an art gallery located inside Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The gallery holds an important collection of about 300 Old Master paintings and nearly 2,000 drawings. The ...

in Oxford, the

and Jersey Arts Centre. His work has been included in over 80 group exhibitions. He is an Honorary Fellow of

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

School of Art and a member of the

Royal Cambrian Academy of Art The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art (RCA) is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members. 240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy Early history During the 19th century there were numerous attempts ...

. He is a member of The Welsh Group and

56 Group Wales The 56 Group Wales ( cy, Grŵp 56 Cymru) is an artists' organisation founded in Wales in 1956, with the aim of promoting Welsh Modernist art and artists. The name was originally simply the 56 Group: "Wales" was added in 1967, in response to a fe ...

. He has lived in London, Newport and

and currently lives near

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

Painting

Clive Hicks-Jenkins works through the mediums of painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, maquettes, animation and artist's books. Nicholas Usherwood in ''Galleries'' has described his work as ‘reflective, expressive painting of the highest order’. Robert Macdonald wrote in ''

Planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

'' in 2002, "Hicks-Jenkins has emerged in recent years as one of the most powerful figurative painters in Wales". Since 2010 the artist has discussed his methods in a regular "Artlog" about his ongoing work. Sense of place plays an important role in his paintings, especially places in Wales, and he has been identified as influenced by British mid-twentieth neo-romanticism. Places appear not only in landscape paintings but as emotionally charged backdrops to still lifes and narrative works and as Andrew Green states, "he negotiates his way through his landscapes, inner and outer; working with the lie of the land to make new discoveries, build new connections". He has become known for thematic series of works that explore the meanings of stories from various sources. The earliest of these was his series drawing on the experiences of his father as a small boy terrified by the Welsh folk tradition of the

Mari Lwyd The Mari Lwyd ( cy, Y Fari Lwyd, ) is a wassailing folk custom found in South Wales. The tradition entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse which is made from a horse's skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sac ...

. Another sequence of works titled the Temptations of Solitude examined present-day traumas and injustices through the lives of the

desert fathers The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt , conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt , common_name = Egypt , subdivision = Province , na ...

of Egypt. Other series have been based on stories of saints and animals, such as

St Kevin Saint Kevin (modern Irish '; Old Irish ', '; latinized '; 498 (reputedly)–3 June 618) is an Irish saint, known as the founder and first abbot of Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland. His feast day is 3 June. Early life Kevin's life is not ...

and the blackbird,

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

and the raven,

Hervé Hervé is a French language, French masculine given name of Breton language, Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinizati ...

and the wolf and St Francis preaching to the birds. Paintings based on stories from the Bible include an

annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

, now in

Llandaff Cathedral Llandaff Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter ...

, Cardiff, and a painting of the woman taken in adultery, in the Methodist Collection of Modern Christian Art,

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

. Among reviewers who have noted links between his earlier theatrical work and his artistic imagination, Alison Lloyd wrote in ''Art Review'', "His work is imbued with poise and balance, and the illusory strangeness of the stage". In 2018 he completed a major project to produce a series of 14 screenprints with the Penfold Press tracing the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, based on the 2008 translation of the medieval poem by

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

. The images were set alongside Armitage's text in the revised illustrated edition published in 2018.

Acting

As a teen Jenkins acted in a few television shows, including multiple appearances in ''

Tom Grattan's War ''Tom Grattan's War'' was a British television series which ran from 1968 to 1970. The show revolved around the life of Tom Grattan who was sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire during the Great War. Plotlines and setting Tom Grattan was a 1 ...

''.

Work in public collections

* Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum of Wales, Cardiff * Brecknock Museum Art Trust, Brecon * Contemporary Art Society for Wales * University of Glamorgan * Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea * Grosvenor Museum, Chester * Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff * Oxford Brookes University, Methodist Church Collection of Modern Christian Art * Museum of Modern Art Wales, Machynlleth * National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth * Neville Hall Hospital Trust, Abergavenny * Newport Museum & Art Gallery * Pallant House Art Gallery, Chichester * Swansea Metropolitan UniversityCallow, Simon, Andrew Green, Rex Harley, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Kathe Koja, Anita Mills, Montserrat Prat, Jacqueline Thalmann, Damian Walford Davies and Marly Youmans, ''Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' (2011: Lund Humphries) , p. 229.

Artist’s books and illustration

Hicks-Jenkins has had a working relationship since the mid 1990s with Nicolas and Frances McDowall of the Old Stile Press, a private press in Monmouthshire specialising in collaborations with artists. This resulted in five artist’s books between 1998 and 2009. Two were editions of the Elizabethan poet

Richard Barnfield Richard Barnfield (baptized 29 June 1574 – 1620) was an English poet. His obscure though close relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him interesting to scholars. It has been suggested that he was the " rival poet" mentioned in ...

, ''The Affectionate Shepheard'' and ''Sonnets''. Two others were written by the contemporary poet Catriona Urquhart, ''Palmyra Jones'' and ''The Mare’s Tale''. The most recent is the first illustrated edition of Sir

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

’s play '' Equus''. His artist's books are in museums and libraries including the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Library of Wales, the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, National Museum Wales, the University of Pennsylvania, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Winchester College and Auckland City Library. In 2019 he collaborated with poet

on an illustrated book retelling the story of

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

, published by Design for Today. He has produced cover images and text decorations for commercially published books, such as ''Val/Orson'', ''Thaliad'', ''The Foliate Head'', ''Glimmerglass'', ''Maze of Blood'' and ''The Book of the Red King'' all by

Marly Youmans Marly Youmans (born Susan Marlene Youmans; November 22, 1953 in Aiken, South Carolina) is an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Her work reflects certain recurring themes such as nature, magic, faith and redemption, and often referen ...

, ''Star-Shot'' by Mary-Ann Constantine, ''Witch'' and ''Judas'' by Damian Walford Davies and ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' by Simon Armitage. Poets have been drawn to respond to Hicks-Jenkins' work, as discussed in an essay by Professor Damian Walford Davies. An illustrated anthology was produced in 2011, ''The Book of Ystwyth: Six Poets on the Art of Clive Hicks-Jenkins''.Bonta, Dave, Callum James, Andrea Selch, Catriona Urquhart, Damian Walford Davies and Marly Youmans, ''The Book of Ystwyth: Six Poets on the Art of Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' (2011: Carolina Wren Press) .

References

Select bibliography

*Barnie, John, ''Clive Hicks-Jenkins: The Mare’s Tale'' (2001: Newport Museum and Art Gallery) *Bonta, Dave, Callum James, Andrea Selch, Catriona Urquhart, Damian Walford Davies and Marly Youmans, ''The Book of Ystwyth: Six Poets on the Art of Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' (2011: Carolina Wren Press) *Callow, Simon, Andrew Green, Rex Harley, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Kathe Koja, Anita Mills, Montserrat Prat, Jacqueline Thalmann, Damian Walford Davies and Marly Youmans, ''Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' (2011: Lund Humphries) *Dunnett, Roderic, "Clive Hicks-Jenkins in Cardiff", ''British Art Journal'', volume V, no 3, 2004, p. 86 *Harley, Rex, "Exhibitions: Clive Hicks-Jenkins", ''Modern Painters'', Summer 2001, p. 104 *Harley, Rex, Seamus Heaney, Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Michael Tooby, ''The Temptations of Solitude: Paintings by Clive Hicks-Jenkins'' (2004: Grey Mare Press) *Lloyd, Alison C., ‘Profile: Clive Hicks-Jenkins’, ''Art Review'' May 2001, p. 48