FREDERICK WILLIAM JACKSON 1859 – 1918
Fred Jackson, the son of an Oldham photographer, had two brothers, Vincent, who trained at the Leipzig Conservatoire and became a professional musician, and Charles Arthur, who became an art dealer and framer. Many of Fred’s paintings still bear labels from his brother’s gallery on the back.
He loved drawing from an early age, sketching with his boyhood friend, the future
architect, Edgar Wood. When he left school he attended evening classes at Oldham School of Art under John Houghton Hague. He went on to study at the Acade´mie Julian in Paris.
In 1880 he went to live in the Conway Valley in Wales together with a number of other artists known collectively as the Manchester School of Artists. This group was
instrumental in founding the Royal Cambrian Academy at which many of the Staithes Group were to exhibit and of which a number were elected members.
Jackson was elected a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Art in 1881 and was a founder member of the New English Art Club.
He travelled extensively in Europe, choosing to spend most time in Italy, especially Capri, Venice, Florence and Rome. He also visited Russia where he produced some
exceptionally fine snow scenes. It was the Yorkshire coast, however, where he decided to settle, living at Ivy Cottage, Hinderwell, and marrying Carrie Hodgeson, the daughter of a local farmer.
In 1901 Jackson became a founder member of the Staithes Art Club and in the same year was a Vice president of the Yorkshire Union of Artists.
Jackson was a true master of plein air painting and the depiction of light. He was able to bathe a picture in gentle light or show the contrasts of strong light and shade on a brighter day. He also excelled at painting people as they worked or rested, focussing on the
essence of the person and their activities rather than simply capturing superficial
resemblances. Like Fred Mayor, he often used small flecks of bright, pure colour, which contrasted with the general palette of the picture, to add focus, contrast or to intensify
effects of light. He stayed with the Mayors in Montreuil-sur-Mer and also with Spence Ingall in Tangiers. Hopwood accompanied him on these visits. It is interesting to compare similarities in the work of these three artists whose brushwork was so different, but whose approach to light and colour had much in common.
Jackson has works in public collections in Bradford, Bolton, Leeds, Huddersfield,
Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Whitby. He exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham, the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, the Goupil Gallery, the Walker Gallery Liverpool, Manchester City Art Gallery, the New English Art Club, the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Yorkshire Union of Artists.
Bibliography:
Staithes Group Centenary Exhibition, Rosamund Jordan 2003
Frederick William Jackson (1859 – 1918): Middleton Artist, Morris Garratt and Colin
Gilbert in Middleton Matters 2, Middleton Civic Association, 2001.
The Staithes Group, Peter Phillips, Phillips and Sons, Marlow1993
The Yorkshire Union of Artists 1888 – 1922, Dennis Child, Leeds Philosophical and
Literary Society Ltd, Leeds 2001
The Dictionary of British Artists 1880 – 1940, J. Johnson & A. Greutzner, Antique
Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge 1976
Thanks to Roy Jackson for additional information.
© Rosamund Jordan 2003
