13th Jun, 2026 9:30 GMT/BST
Modern & Contemporary Art
414
Fred Cecil Jones RBA (1891-1956)
"Stokesley"
Inscribed, pencil, pen and ink, with smaller pencil line drawing of Stokesley verso, together with a further pencil drawing of a church clock tower and other buildings, possibly by Geoffrey Birks, 16cm by 22.5cm and 10.5cm by 17cm respectively (2) (all unframed)
Fred (Frederick) Cecil Jones was a Yorkshire painter, etcher, and art teacher who produced extraordinarily detailed townscapes of his native county, encapsulating the spirit of time and place.
Jones was born in Bradford, the son of artist Maud Raphael Jones. After a brief period at Bradford College of art, in 1916 Jones enlisted into the army where his artistic skills were quickly utilised. He briefly taught other Army artists the skill of panoramic reconnaissance drawing but served most of his time on the Western Front until the close of the war, earning the nickname ‘Detail Jones’ for his ability to precisely render even the finest details of his subjects.
Returning to his West Yorkshire home after the War, he continued to hone his skills in panoramic drawing, capturing the towns and cities of Northern England with acutely observed detail. However, Jones did not just focus his powers of observation on landscape and architecture, he put people at the heart of his paintings which are often bursting with life. He manages to capture small details of everyday life with a gentle, benevolent humour that make his work so engaging; in a crowded shopping street a small child squirms in his mother’s arms, a shopper bends to peer into a window, and woman rummages for a lost item in her handbag.
Jones returned to his artistic education, attending Leeds College of Art part-time between 1930 and 1935, and married fellow artist Ethel Mary Kitson. Whilst continuing to paint, he and Ethel taught at Pudsey School of Art, where he became Deputy Principal. He would go on to exhibit both locally and nationally, including showing at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy. His paintings are now held in numerous collections such as Tate Britain and Wakefield Art Galleries. He was elected to RBA in 1940 and a memorial exhibition of his work was held at Cartwright Hall, 1956 and at Keighley, 1957.
Sold for £200
Estimated at £70 - £100
Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 13th Jun, 2026
“Bolton Junction Eccleshill, Bradford”, a rare early mixed media work made by David Hockney when he was just 19, is one of the highlights of the sale. The work was purchased from David Hockney at his end of year show at Bradford Regional College of Art by Malcolm Riley, a tutor at the college and the vendor’s father.
The sale will be a celebration of Northern Art with some of the most significant artists of the region represented, including two drawings by L.S. Lowry, a selection of works by mining artists Norman Cornish and Tom McGuinness, and three paintings by Huddersfield-born contemporary artist Maxwell Doig.
Ceramics by Pablo Picasso will sit alongside pictures by Ken Howard, Spanish artist Carlos Nadal, David Shepherd, and a vibrant ‘Heart Spin’ by Damien Hirst, made to celebrate the opening of Damien Hirst: Requiem, an exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv 2009.
A Yorkshire View Part II: The sale will open with A Yorkshire View Part II, a large Private Collection of paintings, principally of Yorkshire or by Yorkshire artists, collected by textiles manufacturer George Hopkinson. Artists represented in the collection include Fred Cecil Jones, Fred Lawson, Jacob Kramer and Philip Naviasky. The Yorkshire View Part I was held at Tennants in 2021, and the catalogue can be viewed HERE.
To be sold in nearly sixty lots, the pictures on offer are just a small part of the collection built up over fifty years from the 1920s to the 1960s by Mr George G Hopkinson, a proud Yorkshireman and textile businessman who was a director of West Riding textile company Hopkinson and Shore and Bradford fashion house Novello’s. Upon his death in 1969, the collection was divided between his second wife, Joan, and the families of his two sons, John and Gary. The paintings presented in this sale formed part of John Hopkinson’s estate. The collection is a legacy from a remarkable individual whose discerning eye played a significant role in promoting Yorkshire-based artists of his time. Read more about the Collector.
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Thursday 11th June - Friday 12th June 10am-4pm and morning of the sale from 8am
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