Featured Artists' Biographies (J)

View more information and larger image - 'Landscape View in Slovenia' by Bozidar Jakac.

Bozidar Jakac (Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 1899 - 1989): Slovenia's most famous artist of the twentieth century, Bozidar Jakac first studied art at the Academy of Prague from 1919 to 1923. He then completed his education in both Paris and Berlin. From the beginning of his career, Jakac devoted as much time to the arts of etching and the woodcut as to painting. During the 1930's his work received international attention and he traveled widely, including lengthy trips to the United States and Tunisia.

In Slovenia, Jakac was one of the major forces in founding the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts, becoming both the Professor of Graphic Arts and the first Chancellor of the University. In 1974 the Bozidar Jakac Museum was opened in Kostanjevica, thus providing a permanent location for the important etchings, woodcuts and paintings of this great artist. Jakac's early art is notable for its strong expressionistic tendencies. At first influenced by the art of Edward Munch, Jakac's initial canvases and prints displayed highly charged imagery. By the end of the Second World War, however, his art developed both a more realistic and lyrical tone.

View more information and larger image - 'Hat' by Alois Janak.

Alois Janak (Krasne Brezno, Czechoslovakia, 1924): A contemporary painter, etcher and lithographer, the art of Alois Janak has been included in major exhibitions in France, Germany, England, Italy and the United States. Known for his meticulous detail and provocative imagery, Janak often combines seemingly incongruous elements to create a surreal world. In Hat, for instance, a cowboy's hat is set against an intriguing calligraphic background. The words tell a story and a history that we can't quite decipher. Janak challenges the observer to create his own narrative.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Janak first studied art in Prague under Professor Spacek in 1943. He completed his education in both Paris and Munich in 1949-1950. Janak's first one man exhibition in the United States took place in 1956. In the following year the Galerie Marcel in Paris hosted a similar exhibition. Since 1982, Alois Janak has resided in Munich.

View more information, larger images and other original works of art by Violeta Janes.

Violeta Janes (Buenos Aires, 1910 - Hartfordshire, England, 1994): The daughter of British diplomats, Violeta Janes spent her youth in Argentina. Showing early artistic promise, she was sent to London (c. 1928) to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art and at the City and Guilds School of Art. Violeta Janes completed her education at the Watford School of Art. During this time she was fortunate to study intensively under two of England's finest portrait and figure artists; A. R. Middleton Todd (1891-1967) and Augustus John (1878-1961).

The art of Violeta Janes was regularly exhibited at such major venues as the Royal Academy (from 1948), the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Pastel Society and at the Paris Salon. She was also invited to participate in the Bilan de l'Art Contemporain Exhibition at the Place de Louvre, Paris. Solo exhibitions of her art took place in London at the Broomfield Museum and at the Mayfair Art Gallery, as well as in Quebec City, at the Municipal Congress Centre. Violeta Janes was a full member of the Federation of British Artists, the United Society of Artists and the Societe Francais, Paris.

View more information and larger image - 'Collector' by Hazel Janicki

Hazel Janicki (Cleveland, Ohio, 1918 - 1977): A twentieth century American painter, Hazel Janicki studied art in both Cleveland and Philadelphia. During her career Janicki exhibited her art in many major cities, including exhibitions in Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington and New York. As well, her paintings and drawings were also frequently co-exhibited with works by her husband, the artist William Schock (1913-1977). As a painter, Hazel Janicki was highly regarded both for her styles of lyrical abstraction and for strong elements of surrealism. Today such prominent museums as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art house her paintings and drawings in their permanent collections.

View more information and larger image - 'Riddle of the Fish' by David Jansheski

David Jansheski (Avon Lake, Ohio, Born, 1954): David Jansheski is one of America's most accomplished contemporary printmakers. His printmaking techniques are as complex as his multi-dimensional imagery. He studied drawing and printmaking at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1973 & 1975) and printmaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art (1974). David Jansheski's first published prints date from 1979 and since that time Jansheski has participated in group shows in Houston, Santa Fe, Denver and Los Angeles. Solo exhibitions of his art have taken place in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago. The artist currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

View more information and larger image - 'Panama' an original watercolor by Joseph Jicha.

Joseph W. Jicha 'Joseph Jicha' (Cleveland, Ohio, born, 1901): An American artist and illustrator, Joseph Jicha is today best remembered for his great Art Deco landscapes and figure studies which emphasized bold designs and colourations. Jicha studied art in Cleveland and began exhibiting there around 1921. Later his paintings and watercolours were included in major exhibitions at such institutions as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute and venues in New York, Philadelphia and Texas. He also traveled and worked throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America.

In his hometown of Cleveland, Jicha was a member of the notorious 'Kokoon Club'. Founded in 1912 by William Sommer, Morris Grossman and others, the 'Kokoon Club' initially promoted the avant-guarde in art. When a younger generation of Cleveland artists, such as Jicha, Henry Keller and August Biehle joined several decades later, the club was most famous for its masked balls and bizarre costume dances. In 1923, in fact, the city of Cleveland banned the club for "drunkenness" and "immorality". It was, however, reinstated the following year with the mayor's request that the members wear decent clothing. Jicha designed a number of the beautiful Art Deco posters which advertised the club's activities.

View more information, images and other original works of art by Joe Jones

Joseph John Jones 'Joe Jones' (St. Louis, 1909 - Morristown, NJ, 1963): A major twentieth century painter and printmaker, Joe Jones was almost entirely self-taught. He began exhibiting his paintings and prints around St. Louis in the late 1920's. He also organized and taught art classes for children of unemployed workers in 1934. At about this time Jones became a member of the Communist party and a leading political activist throughout the decade of the Depression. His views were, of course, greatly criticized by mid-western conservatives and thus Jones left St. Louis for New York in 1935.

Many of Jones's paintings and prints from this era (including five large murals) were commissioned by the government supported Works Progress Administration. Also, in 1937, he was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and his art was included in important exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute. In World War Two, Jones worked as a war artist for Life Magazine.

Prominent galleries that today include the art of Joe Jones in their collections are the Smithsonian Institute, the White House, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art and the Whitney Museum, New York.

View more information, images and other original works of art by Mervin Jules.

Mervin Jules (Philadelphia, born, 1912): An accomplished American painter, lithographer and woodcut artist, Mervin Jules studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Jules began to exhibit his art around 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression. Like most artists of this era, he was allowed to continue with his art due mainly to financial support from Federal Art Projects initiated by Roosevelt. This permitted Jules to experiment with printmaking mediums and he was one of the first American artists (in 1938) to produce original silkscreen prints, along with Harry Gottlieb and Louis Lozowick. During the Second World War, Mervin Jules served with the American military forces for a period of two years.

Today, s of his original woodcuts and lithographs are included in the permanent collections of the F. Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.