Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
TED Jones, an artist bordering on genius, soft spoken and gentle and with a flair for the extraordinary, has completed his final journey.
One of the most gifted painters of his generation, whose work enhances many private collections and adorns the walls of hotels and hostelries around the world, was cremated this afternoon following a funeral service at Glasnevin Cemetery in his native Dublin.
Killarney, the town he called home for the past 27 years and a place that inspired much of his great work, was deeply saddened last Tuesday night when news filtered through of his very sudden death.
At the time of his passing, the son of Ballymun, who was 65, was back in his native city to revisit the places he knew and loved in his childhood years, having just completed a significant commission.
A self-taught artist, Ted was encouraged to attend art college by a national school teacher but his mother insisted that it was a job for a rich man’s son and disposed of the application forms.
He once said: “I inherited drawing from my father, which was his greatest legacy to me as he was not a rich man.”
The son of a groundsman in Trinity College, Ted left school at the age of 12 and worked for a period in the laboratory in Trinity before he spent 20 years in the military, enlisting at the age of 16. He returned from service to settle in Killarney where he was greatly loved and hugely appreciated.
He was never reluctant to speak of his battle with alcoholism and other sadnesses that visited him but he rebuilt his life and concentrated on his incredible work – to the delight of those who love his work.
“The painting saved my life. You can get lost in it when you start,” he once said.
One of his most iconic works, Leaving Paris, charted a deeply moving and poignant time in his life and he also created the fabulous Seven Deadly Sins collection – one of the great modern works.
Ted was also responsible for fabulous traditional music and pub scenes with a humorous blend of characters, from craggy-faced tipplers in peak-caps to stunning waitresses with hourglass figures.
A collection of his signed limited edition prints was published in 1998 and many have since accumulated a worth dozens of times their original price. In 2005 he held a one-man show in Killarney which sold out in a matter of hours. Individual pictures sold for up to €50,000 while it was reported that one buyer spent €200,000.
It was money well spent for a little piece of genius.
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