Jeffrey Catherine Jones (January 10, 1944 – May 19, 2011)[1] was an American artist whose work is best known from the late 1960s through the 2000s. Jones created the cover art for more than 150 books through 1976, as well as venturing into fine art during and after this time. Fantasy artist Frank Frazetta supposedly described Jones as "the greatest living painter" and she included the quote on her website, but the source of the quote is unknown and Frazetta denied ever having said it when asked.[2] Although Jones first achieved fame as simply Jeff Jones and later as Jeffrey Jones, she transitioned to female and added Catherine as a middle name in 1998.
The legacy of that much talent doing what was collectively very good work at a point of almost monolithic and degrading corporate influence over the kind of art they wanted to do has provided The Studio with a legacy that can be embraced even by those that didn't particularly care for the artists' output. The idea of a dedicated workplace that would allow for coercive influence one artist to another has been carried over into very nearly [every] cartoonists' collective space initiative since.[11]
By the early 1980s she had a recurring strip in Heavy Metal titled I'm Age.[10] Cartoonists Walter Simonson and J. D. King said at the time that Jones had a growing interest in expressionism and did not pursue comic work as closely thereafter.
Personal life
In 1964, while attending Georgia State College, Jones met fellow student Mary Louise Alexander (later notable as writer Louise Simonson). The two began dating and married in 1966. Their daughter Julianna was born the following year. After graduation, the couple moved to New York City but divorced in the early 1970s.[5]
Gender transition
As an adult, Jones recalled wanting to be a girl from her earliest memories. She confronted these issues in 1998 and began hormone replacement therapy.[4] Comics writer and journalist Steven Ringgenberg elaborated on the transition in an obituary/tribute to Jones at The Comics Journal:
It's now known from the artist's personal writings that she had felt conflicted about her gender since childhood, always feeling a greater affinity for the fair sex than for her own maleness. Having grown up as a product of the patriarchal 1950s, with a domineering war-hero father, Jones did not know how to cope with her yearning to be female, and felt ashamed. For years she tried to drown these feelings in alcohol, but, after much soul-searching, Jones realized that although she'd been born male, inside she was a woman. She began hormone replacement therapy in 1998, and set out upon a new phase of life as a woman, changing her name to Jeffrey Catherine Jones. Yet even this transition did not bring peace to this gentle, troubled artist, for in 2001, she suffered a nervous breakdown, which led to the loss of her home and studio. However, she eventually recovered, and by 2004 began painting and drawing again.[7]
Death
Jones' personal Facebook page reported following her death: "Legendary fantasy artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones passed away today, Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 4:00 am surrounded by family. Jeffrey suffered from severe emphysema and bronchitis as well as hardening of the arteries around the heart..."[12]
Awards
In 1967, Jones was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist; she was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 1970, 1971, and 1972. In 1975 she was nominated for the World Fantasy Award—Artist, and won it in 1986. In 2006 she was presented with Spectrum’s Grand Master Award; per her request the name on the award’s plaque reads “Jeffrey Jones.” She explained, “That’s how people know me. That’s how I want to be remembered.” Additionally, Jones was nominated for the Chesley Award in 1999.[13]
Films
In 2012 a film retrospective on DVD by Maria P. Cabardo was released by Indiegogo featuring interviews with friends, fellow artists, and the artist herself titled Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones.
Bibliography
Books
Yesterday's Lily 79 pages, Dragon's Dream, December 1980, ISBN978-0825695520
Age of Innocence: The Romantic Art of Jeffrey Jones 39 pages, Underwood Books, August 1994, ISBN978-0887331855
The Art of Jeffrey Jones 160 pages, Underwood Books, October 2002, ISBN978-1887424578
^ abCooke, Jon B. (Spring 1999). "Weezie Jones Simonson – Louise discusses her life & times as a Warren editor". Comic Book Artist (4). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 92–94.
^ abLevitz, Paul (2010). "The Bronze Age 1970–1984". 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Cologne, Germany: Taschen. p. 528. ISBN9783836519816. As interim editor for only five issue, series writer Denny O'Neil felt free to experiment, resulting in two very offbeat covers by illustrator Jeff Jones...This [Wonder Woman #199] and the following issue's covers are Jones' only super-hero work for DC.
