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PAUL JONES

His final tribute to the camellia

Our friendship came to mind when cost considerations suggested that the 1997 Supplement to The International Camellia Register could not carry illustrations -- until our publisher suggested we consider a good black-and- white frontispiece.

My husband, Eric Craig, and I had closely conferred for many years with the world-famous Australian flower painter, especially concerning the decor for ACRS camellia shows, and for special purpose illustrations. Although best- known for his camellia paintings, and later for commissioned portfolios of other flowers, Paul was always receptive to our camellia society's needs for pen-and-ink sketches of particular blooms. So he gladly drew the 'Margaret Waterhouse' symbol for ACRS purposes, especially for publicising the 1996 National Camellia Show at Canberra, and then for appearance in Camellia News.

Then, following a 1973 resurgence of The International Camellia Society, and the transfer of its administration to Australia, Paul was asked by Professor E.G. Waterhouse, the ICS President, to draw an internationally-appealing camellia for the society's letterhead and annual journal. He chose the American japonica 'Mrs D.W. Davis', a most appropriate choice seeing that it had been registered by the first ICS Treasurer, Albert Fendig of Georgia.

Then, when production of the 1993 International Camellia Register, compiled by Tom Savige, was being contemplated, Paul agreed that the colour frontispiece should be a camellia unique among the 32,000 varieties that would be listed. Although it was late in the Sydney season to find its blooms, his watercolour of Japan's 'Tama-no-ura' won universal admiration.

So how could a black-and-white frontispiece do justice to the 1997 Supplement? We suddenly recalled visiting Paul Jones when he lived at Paddington, Sydney, and discovering that weariness of flower painting had persuaded him to commence a new field of expertise -- superb-quality black- and-white photography of flowers which captured a level of beauty we had never seen before. We sought his advice, and he invited us to his new Woollahra apartment in January last year, where a further collection of fabulous black-and- whites was to be seen. After explaining our mission, and chatting for an hour or so about old times, Paul said: 'Well, I will give you my best photograph of what I consider to be the world's best white camellia'. We were absolutely stunned by its beauty. It was 'Nuccio's Gem'.

Any attempt of mine to summarise the accomplishments of Paul Jones will be criticised, because of its inevitable omission of many highlights in a brilliant career. These notes therefore report some recollections of a person we admired as a charming man, as well as an incomparable flower painter, mural painter and decor designer.

Paul told me he started painting flowers after 'pinching' blooms from people's gardens. A posy of flowers, accepted for exhibition at the Sydney Art Gallery, included a camellia he had plucked from one of the gardens at Vaucluse House. This camellia, 'Variegata' caught the eye of Professor Waterhouse, who managed to get a message through to the conscripted artist, then doing military duty in New Guinea. That contact initiated a lifelong friendship with Professor and Mrs Waterhouse, whose love for ikebana gave further inspiration to Paul, especially following their joint exploration of Japanese camellia country in 1963.

He came to many early-year meetings of the New South Wales branch of the ACRS during the period he lived with his mother at Killara, on Sydney's North Shore.

Much earlier, Professor Waterhouse had decided that Paul would be the best person to illustrate his superb books published by Ure Smith -- 'Camellia Quest' and 'Camellia Trail'. Those paintings led to Beryl Leslie Urquhart of England choosing him to paint 17 camellias for her first magnificent book, 'The Camellia'. His paintings adorned the ACRS Camellia Annual cover for many years.

I have no doubt that Janet Waterhouse had a strong influence on Paul's camellia paintings, especially the way he arranged the blooms and their leaves. She suggested that his early paintings were 'too busy', and one can see what she meant by looking at the society's first Camellia Annual publication with a full-colour cover: the December 1957 issue, which featured Paul's 1946 watercolour of 'Mrs Swan'. But from 1963 on, Paul painted a camellia each year for the Annual Camellia News, and his trend to simplification is ideally seen in the 'Lady Gowrie' cover of December 1967.

From the start, he introduced a 'trade-mark' in the form of one or two drops of dew on a petal or leaf.

In early 1963, Eric commissioned Paul to paint one of his favourite early-flowering camellias, 'Daikagura', for my birthday. After selecting a few blooms from our garden, Paul took them home, but then telephoned to ask why we were so keen on that variety. I explained that it was for sentimental reasons; 'Daikagura' had been a 'first love' when we became interested in camellias; so Paul replied: 'Well, it will be a challenge. Would you like an extra dew- drop? I won't charge extra for it'.

Having observed countless varieties in Europe, Japan, USA, Australia and New Zealand, Paul occasionally wearied but never lost his deep love of camellia painting. But he naturally had preferences. His International Camellia Journal story in 1962 said: 'A paintable camellia must have a decisive form, styling, and an individual personality. Bereft of those qualities, despite size and colour, there is no message. 'Tomorrow' is an example of an unpaintable camellia. In fact, many of the newer varieties lack these features, and have little to offer me as a painter.'

The wonderfully successful book 'Flora Superba', published in 1971, carried a preface by Sir George Taylor, one of the world's foremost botanists. He described Paul Jones' paintings as 'technically astounding, scientifically exact, and aesthetically so thoughtful and pleasing that, without risking hyperbole, I would rank them amongst the very finest achievements in the whole gallery of botanical art.' In 1973, he decided to honour Professor Waterhouse's plan to hold the first Australian Congress of the International Camellia Society by painting a portfolio of four outstanding Australian camellias -- 'E.G. Waterhouse', 'Janet Waterhouse', 'Lady Gowrie', and 'Paul Jones Supreme': Society members were able to acquire this limited-edition portfolio at a concessional price, and one was presented by Professor Waterhouse to Lady Dunrossil, wife of the Governor-General of Australia, when she opened the International Camellia Congress Show in Sydney.

The final day of this congress featured an exhibition of Paul Jones' paintings, 'The magic of Camellias'. In his opening address, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Alderman David Griffin, said: 'Camellias are a perfect subject for an artist...yet how few can paint them! Who of the hundreds of thousands or artists in this world can capture the glory and the delicacy and, above all, the essential refinement of a flower so exquisite that its very existence is a miracle of nature? I know of only one -- Paul Jones. He is an artist of exquisite sensitivity. He has captured the magic of camellias, and, as all great artists do, has made it a magic of his own.' That magic was also expressed in Paul's designs for the decor of our society's mid-city camellia shows. The first of these, arranged around a cherry-and-white-ribboned Regency Pavilion, attracted 20,000 people in three days to Farmer's Blaxland Gallery, and jammed the store's elevators. This event was so impressive that Paul was invited to plan the decor for the Golden Ball held in Sydney to honour the visit of Princess Alexandra. He subsequently assisted Dame Helen Blaxland to redecorate Kirribilli House, the Sydney Harbour residence of the Australian Prime Minister.

Another splendid but lesser-known example of his brilliant. versatility is the restaurant mural which Eric and I have admired for many years at The American Club; it is a true beautiful painting of Jackson Square in New Orleans. Wherever Paul lived, his rooms crammed with paintings photographs, butterflies, shells and other fascinating collections were always supported by an attractive courtyard filled with interesting plants...plants that had either been given to him, or which he had 'acquired'. 'They say a true gardener never buys his plants' he once told me.

But although Paul willingly accepted membership of the Eryldene Garden Committee, following formation of the Eryldene Trust, he participated in a half-hearted manner. During our long discussion in January last year, reminding each other about people and events of years gone by, he explained it this way: 'A home is made by its people. And Eryldene has meant nothing to me since the Waterhouses passed away.'

Not long after Paul gave us that print of 'Nuccio's Gem', he was obliged to undergo surgery for a worrying throat ailment. We had phone contact several months later, but he spoke with great difficulty, saying that further surgery appeared necessary.

He died in early December 1997, aged 76.