Norman Clifford Jaques

Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art; this original oil painting by Norman Jaques.<br> The painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic and contrasting contemporary frame to suit the subject colouration. The painted surface has benefitted from cleaning and conservation, which took place in 2014 on our instructions. <br> The painting was created whilst the artist lived at 6 Wardle Road in Sale, Manchester.<br> <br> Norman Jaques was a well- known Northern artist, teacher and printmaker.<br> <br> He was born in Manchester and studied at the College of Art and Technology 1937-42. He won many awards for his artistic work, including the Manchester Institute Award, the Proctor Travelling Scholarship to Italy and France in 1948 and the Giles bequest award in Block printing, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1954.<br> <br> Norman Jaques combined an esteemed teaching career with his art and printmaking, although it is for his prints that he is perhaps best known. He also worked in illustration and book design.<br> <br> He held a senior lectureship in Art and Design at Manchester Polytechnic 1950-82 and was a member and served as President of both The Manchester Art Club and the Manchester Academy of Fine Art. He was also Head of Art at Stretford Grammar School for Girls.<br> <br> Norman Jaques’ work has been exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy and the Victoria and Albert. He has taken part in solo and group shows at Peterloo Gallery and the City Art Gallery, both in Manchester. Today his works are held by public galleries in Oldham, Stockport and Manchester.<br> <br> He lived most of his life at Sale, Cheshire, moving after the death of his wife Marjorie to be close to one of his sons in the Chapel Allerton area of Leeds. He died in 2014.<br> <br> Jaques had a very physical, quirky and sometimes spontaneous style. His work has volume, strength and intense colour. Today his artwork is now being increasingly appreciated and collected.<br> <br> This original oil on canvas shows a cove on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, with a single orange wooden boat lying on the yellow sand, with tall pale grey cliffs rising behind and the rich browns and greens of fields beyond. The sky is a deep blue peppered with tiny white clouds. Water runs across the beach; the cliffs are edged in sharp blue. To the left foreground there are pebbles on the beach. There are areas of shade at the bottom of the cliffs. It is a stylised piece, bold and warm, at once sophisticated and charming.