Jonathan Jones (journalist)

Early life

Jones was brought up in North Wales. Both his parents were school teachers and the family visited Italy in the summer holidays which kindled his interest in art. He studied history at the University of Cambridge and, at one time, wanted to be a professional historian. Jones developed an interest in modern art while living in the United States, where his wife was an academic at Brown University. On his return to the United Kingdom he wrote freelance for magazines and art features for The Guardian.

On Mark Leckey

Jones had a public feud with artist Mark Leckey, who won the Turner Prize in 2008. By 2011, Whitehot Magazine referred to "the ongoing 3 year battle" between the two. Later that year, Jones gave a highly negative review to Leckey's exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, describing it as being "full of lumbering inanities". The review provoked strong responses in art circles and many comments on The Guardian's webpage, including replies from Jones. forcing Jones on to the defensive in the reader comments section time and time again. Jones held to his position that the exhibition was just bad, and his review simply an honest reaction, replying to one reader that he had used "invective because - let's face it - if you really do feel dislike, you may as well exploit the entertainment value of that rage. In other words - bad reviews can be bloody good fun to read", adding "So here is where I am really coming from... I believe ninety-five percent of the British contemporary art that is endlessly promoted by galleries, museums and the media is worthless" and, probably tongue-in-cheek, "Artblogging, it's the new rock n roll". Writing in frieze.com, Isobel Harbison called the review part of a "trend in broadsheet art criticism of opinion-mongering and reader-goading."

On photography

Jones has expressed varying opinions on photography. In January 2013 he wrote that "Photography is the serious art of our time" and the only art that devotes the same "attention to the stuff that matters" as great artists of the past. In December 2014, however, prompted by the high price paid for a print by the photographer Peter Lik, Jones started a column by declaring that "Photography is not an art", and went on to say that, "this hollow and overblown creation exposes the illusion that lures us all, when we’re having a good day with a good camera – the fantasy that taking a picture is the same thing as making a work of art."

On Wikipedia

In February 2014, in discussing a Wikipedia project to increase articles on women in the arts, Jones wrote that Wikipedia "is a corrupting force" that is "eroding the world's intellect" through a relativist approach to knowledge.

On Terry Pratchett

In August 2015, shortly after the death of Terry Pratchett, Jones wrote an article titled "Get real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius", criticizing Pratchett's books as "ordinary potboilers" not worth the time to read. The piece attracted criticism including a response by Sam Jordison on The Guardian's book blog, which defended Pratchett's work and criticized Jones for commenting on books despite admitting that he had not read them. Jones wrote a follow-up piece after reading Small Gods, in which he referred to his initial column as his "most shameful moment as a critic". He praised some of the book's wit and entertainment value, but still found that its prose and characters fell short of what he considered literary fiction.

Publications