1943
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Gateway to St. Olave's Hart Street, E.C.2. is a 1943 watercolor by Barbara Jones, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a closed, iron-barred door set into a stone wall. Above it, two skulls sit on a ledge like silent guards. The door frame is detailed with carvings, and the wall behind it looks old and worn. Outside, trees and a dark sky loom over a wrought-iron fence. The skulls aren’t just decoration—they’re a nod to the building’s history as a church. The artist used soft watercolors to show light and shadow, making the scene feel both real and slightly eerie. Want to see more of this artist’s work? Check out Jones, Barbara.
This watercolour by Barbara Jones, titled *Gateway to St. Olave's Hart Street, E.C.2.*, was created in 1943 as part of the *Recording Britain* project. The initiative employed artists to document Britain’s landscape and architecture during the Second World War, aiming to preserve scenes perceived as vulnerable to wartime damage or modernization. Jones’s work depicts the entrance to St. Olave’s Church in London, contributing to a broader effort to record urban and historic sites across England. The collection, funded by the Pilgrim Trust and overseen by Sir Kenneth Clark, included…
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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