Jack HEATH
1915 – 1969
Paintings, murals, assemblages, graphics
J.C.W. Heath in 1964
Short Biography
John Charles Wood Heath a.k.a. Jack Heath was born in Cannock, Staffordshire UK on 22nd May, 1915. He studied at the Birmingham School of Arts and Crafts during 1932-1936 and the Royal College of Art London during 1936-1939 under John Nash and Paul Nash (at the Engraving School under Malcolm Osborne and Robert Austin). In 1938, he won the British Institute Empire Scholarship in Engraving and in 1939 the Drawing Prize.
Jack married Jane Tully Parminter on 18th January, 1940. Their children are Bronwen (Jinny) born in 1944 and Jonathan.
Volunteered for service in the army at the outbreak of WW2, saw action in Italy in 1943, was injured on Queen’s Beach in the Normandy Landing on 6th June, 1944, evacuated, then demobilized in 1946. Two of his drawings from that time are included in the Imperial Wars Museum Collection IWM (D-Day I, D-Day II).
Mid-1946 Jack Heath was appointed Lecturer in Painting and Drawing at Rhodes University College, in 1947 Head of the School of Art at the Technical College, Port Elizabeth, where he remained until 1952. He then was appointed Professor of Fine Art at Natal University College, Pietermaritzburg, in January, 1953.
Prof Jack Heath died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 16th June, 1969.
Well-known students of Jack Heath were Sheila McCorkindale, Fred Page and Alexander Rose-Innes, a.o.
To view a fuller biography, please go to this link!
Exhibitions at Gallery 101 Johannesburg
Gallery 101, Johannesburg ("Art & Religion" The Gallery 101 - U.A.T. 1962 Scholarship Competition") (26th February, 1962) - opened by A.M. van Schoor
Gallery 101, Johannesburg (First National Graphic Week) – opened by Esmé Berman – 18th June, 1962
Gallery 101, Rand Central, Johannesburg (November, 1962) (Drawings)
“Scythian Nightmare”, 1962 – 32.5x48 cm - click on image for selection of works exhibited at Gallery 101 in 1962
Other selected solo and group exhibitions
SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (First Quadrennial Exhibition of South Africa Art, 1956)
Lidchi Gallery, Durban (jointly with Jane Heath, Hilda Ditchburn and John Hooper) (26th October - 4th November, 1961)
Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (Artists of Fame & Promise 1962)
Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (Artists of Fame & Promise 1963)
Durban Art Gallery, Durban (Art South Africa Today) – July/August 1965
SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (Republic Festival May 1966)
Eastern Province Society of Fine Arts Jubilee Exhibition - August, 1968
University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) Library, Pietermaritzburg - 9th to 14th June, 1969 (see installation view)
University of Natal - Posthumous Exhibition - October, 1977
Retrospective Exhibition
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
The Heath Family Retrospective Exhibition - 9th July 2009 to 21st February, 2010
Four religious panels by Jack Heath
Panel 1: Descent from the Cross
Panel 2: The Crucifixion
Panel 3: Lazarus come forth, 1962 (wax and oil with sand on board) - 249x126 cm
Panel 4: "African Vodoo"
The artist working on the Crucifixion
John Charles Wood Heath's studio with religious works
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Selected wax-medium works by Jack Heath
Installation view at Tatham Art Gallery, 2009
A selection of his earlier Works
“Above the winds of change”, 1962 – m/media on paper – 48x29.5cm – illustrated in “Art & Artists of South Africa” (Esmé Berman) (Balkema), 1983, p.209
Composite of early works on view at Ebony Design Gallery, Franschhoek, 2014
Works in South African Public Collections
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
"Wind of Fear", 1965 - mixed media on board (oil with sand, gravel and impasto) - 124x124cm
(click on image for better view)
South African National Gallery, Cape Town
"Thornveld Purple" - mixed media on paper - 39x48 cm (img. SA National Gallery, Cape Town)
(click on image for better view)
Murals executed
Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital, Port Elizabeth
King Edward Hotel, Port Elizabeth
Works on auction
Strauss & Co., Johannesburg - 23rd May, 2016 - Lot 172
"Hot Day Karoo", 1959 - oil/board - 121x168 cm - Lot 172 (est. ZAR 50'000-80'000)
featured in Strauss & Co., Johannesburg - 23rd May, 2016 - auction cat. pp. 104/105
Strauss & Co., Johannesburg - 9th November, 2015 - Lot 101 (realised ZAR 62'500)
"Thornveld in Red and Blue", 1959 - acryl/board - 120x150.5 cm - Lot 101
Cannon & Cannon, Pietermaritzburg: 2015: 26th October - Lot 358
Cannon & Cannon, Pietermaritzburg: 2008: 30th September – Lot 249; 28th October – Lot 367; 25th November – Lot 315
Selected Publications
"First Quadrennial Exhibition of South Africa Art, 1956" - SA Association of Arts, Cape Town - cat. 26 "Baboon skull" -oil - 63x91 cm, not ill., listed as "John Heath"
“Art in South Africa since 1900” (F.L. Alexander) (Balkema), 1962, p.23, p.26/27, p.29 (part of “African Voodoo” ill.), p.101 fig.78 “Descent from the Cross” 8x4, ill.; p.163
“South African Artists 1900-1962” (Harold Jeppe) (Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel), 1963, p 39
"Art & Religion" The Gallery 101 - U.A.T. 1962 Scholarship Competition" (26th February) - cat 44 illustrated, p.5
Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (Artists of Fame & Promise 1962), cat. 42 “Ultima Thule” - pen & wash – R60
Undated Afrikaans newspaper review from 1962 “Het nog nie SA gevoel onder knie”, listing “Strange City”, “Red soil of Natal”
Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (Artists of Fame & Promise 1963), cat. 41 “African Sentinels” -wax – R70
Durban Art Gallery, Durban (Art South Africa Today) – July/August 1965, cat. 12 “Fetish Mountain” -m/media painting – R350
SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (Republic Festival May 1966), cat 132, “Fetish Mountain” - m/media
Eastern Province Herald - 17th August, 1968 - review of Jubilee Exhibition - "Floor of the forest"
Natal Witness - 5th October, 1977 - review
Natal Daily News - 6th October, 1977 - review
“Art & Artists of South Africa” (Esmé Berman) (Balkema), 1983, pp 209/210, 289, 299, 318, 367, 447, 515/6
"New Dictionary of South African Biography 1" (EJ Verwey) (HSRC Publishers) (1995), Vol 5 p. 336 - ISBN 0 7969 1648 9
"The S.A. Art Times" - October, 2009 - p.10
“Artist Biographies (British and Irish Artists of the 20thC)” - www.artbiogs.co.uk (listed), 2014
Unpublished Project
"The Seaside ABC" - a full alphabet by Jack Heath from 1948/1950. never published or exhibited - title page, gouache on paper
Additional Web References
http://jinnyheath.tumblr.com/
Updated 20th May, 2016
