United States. Ray-Jones admired him for being
clever and wise, and for being a visionary.
The United States was important for Ray-Jones
and remains so for his partner, Anna Ray-Jones,
an artist from Bradford, England, who lives in New
York City. He went to North America first as a 19-
year-old to take up a scholarship in design at Yale
University. It was while there that he decided to
concentrate on photography and spend a year in
New York City, impressed by its possibilities and
vitality. The experience honed his skills in working
and seeing, but he returned to London in 1965 and
devised a plan that was going to become his finest
body of work—the English at leisure. It was at
once an essay in folklore, eccentricity, and the
quality of life. The pictures showed admiration
for the photographers Ray-Jones thought worth-
while. The images were direct if sometimes enig-
matic, ironic, lyrical, and often surreal. His images
were the products of rigors in seeing and thinking,
action, and reaction. Ray-Jones usedThe Ameri-
cans, Robert Frank’s 1959 book, as a model. This
slightly surreal and often uncomfortable examina-
tion of England’s urban life, coastal resorts and
holiday camps, and society events was not pub-
lished until two years after his death as the mono-
graphA Day Off: An English Journal. His passing
in 1972 was mourned publicly by Paul Strand, who
wrote: ‘‘The tragic death of Tony Ray-Jones who
was working in the great tradition...is a real loss to
the art of photography in Great Britain and to
people everywhere.’’
PeterTurnerSeealso: Brandt, Bill; Brassaı ̈; Cartier-Bresson,
Henri; Frank, Robert; Parr, Martin; Picture Post;
Strand, Paul
Biography
Born in Wells, Somerset, England, 1941. Christened Hol-
royd Anthony Ray-Jones. Studied Graphic Design at
London School of Printing 1957–1961 and Yale Univer-
sity School of Art, 1961–1964; gained an MFA.
Returned to London, 1965; worked as an independent
photographer and designer, 1963–1972. Invited to teach
at San Francisco Art Institute, 1971 and continued with
personal projects. Diagnosed in California as having
leukaemia. Returned to London, March, 1972. Died 13
March, 1972.Individual Exhibitions
1969 The English Seen; Institute of Contemporary Arts;
London
1970 Tony Ray-Jones; Rencontres Gallery; Paris, France
1971 Tony Ray-Jones; Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester,
New York and touring
1972 Tony Ray-Jones; San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art: San Francisco, California
1973–1976Tony Ray-Jones; Arts Council of Great Britain
touring exhibition
1989 Tony Ray-Jones; Photographers’ Gallery; London and
touringSelected Group Exhibitions
1968 Current Report 2; Museum of Modern Art; New York
1969 Vision and Expression; George Eastman House;
Rochester, New York
1970 PersonalViews;InstituteofContemporaryArts;LondonSelected Works
A Day Off: an English Journal. London: Thames and Hud-
son, 1974. Introduction by Ainslie Ellis.
Tony Ray-Jones. Manchester:Cornerhouse Publications,- Introduction by Richard Ehrlich.
Further Reading
Creative Camera. London: Coo Press, 1968.
Crawley, Geoffrey, ed.The British Journal of Photography
Annual 1973. London: Henry Greenwood, 1972.
Lemagny, J. C., and Andre ́ Rouille ́, eds.A History of
Photography. (Translated by Janet Lloyd). Cambridge,
New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press,
1986.
Rosenblum, Naomi.A World History of Photography. New
York: Abbeville Press, 1984.
Turner, Peter.History of Photography. London: Paul Ham-
lyn, New York: Exeter Books, and Sydney: Bison Books,
1987.RAY-JONES, TONY