1942
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Clifton House, King's Lynn is a 1942 watercolor by Barbara Jones, a Social Realism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a grand doorway with two tall, twisted columns on either side. Above the door is a half-circle arch with a flat top. Inside, you can see another smaller doorway leading to a courtyard with a gate and a few plants. The walls are made of brick, and the whole scene looks like the entrance to a fancy old building. The artist focused on the details of the architecture, like the carvings on the columns and the shadowy courtyard beyond. The colors are soft, with earthy tones and some light coming through the inner door. If you like this style, check out the Victoria and Albert Museum for more works like this.
This watercolour by Barbara Jones depicts Clifton House in King’s Lynn as part of the Recording Britain project, a wartime initiative to document the British landscape and built environment. Created in 1942, the work reflects the scheme’s goal of preserving a record of places perceived as vulnerable to wartime damage or modern change. The painting contributes to a broader effort to capture the character of English towns, rural scenes, and historical structures during a period of national upheaval. Over 1,500 works were produced by 97 artists as part of the project, which ran from 1940 to 1943.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Barbara Mildred Jones (25 December 1912 – 28 August 1978) was an English artist, writer and mural painter. She is known for curating the exhibition Black Eyes and Lemonade (1951) and her book The Unsophisticated Arts (1951).
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