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Paul Griffiths - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Paul Griffiths

At the end of last year OCA student Paul Griffiths had an essay on painter-draftsman-printmaker Jane Joseph published by Print Quarterly. The following is an excerpt from his blog;
Jane Joseph is is well known for her figurative work, much of which is based on marginal and post-industrial landscapes in London and elsewhere. She is particularly respected for her drawings, some of which are large in scale, and for her printmaking in various media.
As a summative way of understanding her work, it is still worth quoting from a note that Mel Gooding wrote in 1987: “A drawing by Jane Joseph is a meeting place of three fidelities: fidelity to the place observed; fidelity to her feelings about that place; fidelity to her chosen materials”. Joseph’s works are true to the demands of figurative representation yet also function as visual metaphors of the human condition.
I have known Jane Joseph since I was one of her students in the art department of Morley College, London, in the early 1970s. My interest in her work originates in that period, and has deepened with time, by attending exhibitions and by building up a small collection of her drawings and prints. For a long time, I have wanted an opportunity to articulate some of my understanding of and respect for her work.
That opportunity presented itself in January 2012, when an exhibition at Mostyn, Llandudno, presented the suites of etchings that Joseph had produced some years earlier to accompany the Folio Society publication of two of Primo Levi’s books. I wrote a review, posted on the New Welsh Review blog, and immediately afterwards began researching and writing the essay presented here.

Regarding Primo Levi
Regarding Primo Levi

It took about nine months to produce a draft suitable for submission to Rhoda Eitel-Porter, editor of Print Quarterly. After a three-month wait, the anonymous referees signalled their acceptance, with the usual caveats that the text had to be shortened and that some aspects of writing needed re-consideration. Revision took another six months, with intense activity towards the end, as the editor and I resolved details to our mutual satisfaction. The essay was published last December, nearly two years after it was begun.
Check out Paul’s blog here.


Posted by author: Joanne

One thought on “Paul Griffiths

  • Congratulations on being ‘published’ Paul. I think your article is a fine example of “how to analyse an image”. I follow your blog as you know and I’m continually amazed by the fine detail and explanation you provide on the process of your work.

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