Text Copyright © David Moore. Photograph Copyright © Amgueddfa Cymru / Museum Wales 2023. Book Copyright © Graffeg 2023. 

This is the first biography, fully illustrated, of Ray Howard-Jones (1903-1996), the renowned Welsh woman war artist, sea painter, mosaicist, community theatre pioneer, poet and Christian mystic. Her outstanding achievements were made despite life-threatening illness and innumerable accidents. The book features over 200 of Howard-Jones's illustrated works.

‘Having known Ray Howard-Jones in the late 1980s and early 1990s, her last decade, I realised that hers was a remarkable, vivid and unconventional personality. Since then, working in Welsh museums and galleries, I came to appreciate what an exceptional artist she was and felt compelled to find out more about her life and work. Yet, she has been incredibly neglected in recent decades. Researching, writing and selecting images for this biography has taken many years but I wanted, through its pages, to bring her to life and to enable people to reassess her many achievements. How is it that a pioneer of community arts, a celebrated mosaicist, an artist represented by one of the largest collections of artworks in Amgueddfa Cymru and one of the most successful Second World War artists from Wales is so little known today?’ 

David Moore

Chapters in this book include: Upbringing, 1903-1921; Art School and Earning a Living, 1920-1928;  Tuberculosis, the Museum and Theatricals, 1929-1939; 

Bombing Raids and Barrage Balloons, 1939-1943; Bristol Channel Islands and D-Day Preparations, 1943-1945; Hospitalfield and Post-war, 1946-1957; 

Scalmeye, Island of the Heart, 1949-1957; An Eye for the People: the Cardiff Mosaic, 1958-1959; Martin's Haven, Renney Slip and Marloes, 1959-1971; 

London, Exhibitions and Travel, 1963-1965; The Tindal Memorial Mosaic, 1963-1965; Raised Profile in Wales, 1971-1985; Christian Faith, Nashdom Abbey 

and Mysticism, 1962-1996; Late Years, 1986-1996; Legacy.

David Moore has worked extensively in Welsh museums and galleries and writes about Welsh modern art and public art collections. He met Ray while working for Pembrokeshire Museums. In Brecon he established a reputation for exhibiting Welsh artists and developed a notable regional art collection.

David lives in Brecon, Wales. He has worked in public museums and galleries for twenty years, starting as a volunteer at the Ceredigion Museum. 

An Associate Member of the Museums Association, he worked for Pembrokeshire Museum Service and then as curator of Brecknock Museum 

and Art Gallery.

'I had never encountered anyone quite like Ray. About five and a half feet in height, this sprightly fair-haired woman in her mid-eighties with inquisitive blue eyes was feisty, focused, driven and unconventional. Engaging in conversation she was rarely reserved in expressing an opinion. She was totally convinced of her own worth and destiny.' David Moore

Book launch

We're so pleased to share that we will be celebrating the launch of Ray Howard-Jones by David Moore at the National Museum of Wales / Amgueddfa Cenedlaethol Cymru on Thursday 6th of July 2023. Save a space for yourself using the link here: https://bit.ly/RHJLaunch

events

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Any press and media queries, or to request a review copy, please get in touch with us at media@graffeg.com.

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To request review copies, interviews or images for use with editorial, please contact: daniel@graffeg.com/02922 404970.

Bird Eye Books is an imprint of Graffeg, designed to publish high-quality illustrated books about the visual arts. We work with authors, artists, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers, illustrators, crafts people, architects and other creatives to publish beautiful books about our visual culture.