Alun Leach-Jones

Alun Leach–Jones
born United Kingdom 1937; arrived Australia 1959;
died 2017

Evening coming in across the fields 2001
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Geelong Gallery
Gift of Nola Jones through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2019

Evening coming in across the fields is an important example of the intricate composition, distinctive high-key colour, and dynamic interaction of fluid, organic forms and geometric shapes that define Leach-Jones’ large-scale paintings.

Leach-Jones had early training in calligraphy and the traditional process of illumination for legal documents, and the meticulous surfaces and compositional organisation of his paintings draw on these skills. Leach-Jones developed over the course of his long career a singular brand of refined, cool abstraction.

As much as Evening coming in across the fields typifies Leach-Jones’ abstract aesthetic, it provides points of access to its landscape references through the evident depiction of hill forms and a sense of foreground receding to background.