MORE AMERICAN LINKS FOR JAGO STONE - THE JENNY JANZEN COLLECTION

A week before Christmas, I received an email with the title: 'Jago Stone paintings from the Janzen Collection'. I held my breath as I opened it. Earlier in the year, Jenny Janzen had sent me a list of Jago Stone paintings in her collection and I have included that catalogue in 'The Remarkable Life of Jago Stone', his biography - along with images of two of the three paintings ('Elm Hill, Norwich' and 'Ye Olde Bell Inn, Hurley, Berkshire' for which Jenny had been able to send me photos. But technical difficulties had meant I could not yet see the others.

Now, out of the blue, I had this mailing. Inside, there was a message from Kristi Moore of Moore Archives & Preservation LLC - press this link here - which explained that she was providing a link to her Dropbox that had the images of all the Jago Stone paintings in the Janzen Collection - and wishing me good luck with my project! Kristi Moore - I am delighted to cite you as the photographer, here in this blog and in the book itself. And a very special thanks to you, Jenny Janzen, for enabling all this to happen. I am very grateful.

'Stocks & Market, Stow on the Wold, Cotswolds' - Jago Stone (1976)

Jenny Janzen's story detailing her connection with Jago I have already told in an earlier blog-post - 'The American Connection - Part Seven' in May 2018. Here it is again:

'Even as I was completing my biography of Jago Stone, a new American connection was being made in February this year. Jenny Janzen, from Virginia in the USA, emailed me with the story of her connection with 



Jago through the 16 paintings of his that she and her husband have in their home. As the months have passed, we've kept in contact and in fact Jenny was in the UK in April, visiting London and cousins in the Cotswolds. Unfortunately, technical problems have prevented me from seeing any images of the art but Jenny has provided me with a list of the 16 paintings that I've scanned for you to see later in this blog. Jago's painting subjects are wider than I realised. Did he work from a photo when he produced his painting of Elm Hill in Norwich?

'Elm Hill, Norwich' - Jago Stone (1976)

Jenny explained that she had been a long-term resident in England and first became aware of the name 'Jago Stone' possibly in 1988 when he died and she heard something about it on the BBC. Twenty-two years later, she went to her High School Reunion and met her widower high school/college former boyfriend, Bob. 'It was like picking up on an unfinished conversation'. Their romance led to marriage in December 2011 and afterwards when she came to her husband's house in Virginia to live she became acquainted with the Janzen collection of Jago's art. 

'Tewkesbury' - Jago Stone (1975)

Bob, like John 'Adam' Adamski, had been a senior member of the USAF command - in Bob's case, at the Croughton base next to Upper Heyford, for three years in the mid-70s. He and his wife, Norma, had collected the Jago paintings and then taken them back across the Pond when their tour was over. How many other Jago collections are there in the States awaiting discovery?'

'Ebrington, the Cotswolds' - Jago Stone (1975)

As you will know, if you have been following these blog-posts, there have been more discoveries over the last ten months since Jenny first made contact. My catalogue of Jago's work has grown even more substantial. Do please make contact if you have Jago images. I would love to add to our growing understanding of the reach of this remarkable artist.