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47 Jones has printed and advised some of the most celebrated modern British artists, including Henry Moore, John Piper and William Scott. In 1977 the Tate Gallery celebrated the achievement of the work produced at Curwen and dedicated a chapter to the work of Stanley Jones and the Curwen Studio in their exhibition of Artists at Curwen. During the early 1960s Robert Erskine handed over the mantle of St. George's Gallery Prints to the fledgling Editions Alecto and became a director of a firm that was to have a profound influence on British printmaking during the print boom of the 1960s. Prunella Clough in contrast made prints on a more private and modest scale, acquiring her own lithographic press in the late 1940's and an etching press by the mid 1950's. She made prints throughout her life, mostly in small editions and sold many privately to friends and keen collectors. She created subtle and enduring imagery, her early subject matter was of lorry drivers, fisherman and labourers along the fishing ports of East Anglia and then the urban industrial landscape of London. There was also a series of lithographs she made on her press and exhibited at Rex Nan Kivell's Society of London Painter Printers exhibition at his Redfern Gallery during the late 1940s and early 50s. She continued to make small editions through to the 1990s. John Craxton also accomplished much in print, evolving a very personal pictorial language to communicate and give lasting expressions to his joy in what he saw and his affection for the people around him. This is typified on a very personal scale by the hand coloured prints that Craxton made each Christmas, that were eagerly awaited by those lucky enough to receive them. In a more public arena Craxton also illustrated many wonderful books for his great friend, the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. Early on they were linocuts that he hand-coloured but later he photocopied drawings that he personally hand coloured. The Poet's Eye, published by Frederick Muller in 1944 arguably one of the most beautiful illustrated anthologies of English poetry of the 1940s, features 16 lithographed illustrations by John Craxton and poetry selected by Geoffrey Grigson. The lithographs capture the mood of Britain at war depicted by the essence of Neo- Romanticism and the yearning to preserve the English pastoral. Craxton disliked the Neo-Romantic and preferred to be described as 'Arcadian'. London in November 1955. What he achieved during the next seven or eight years was quite remarkable; his gallery not only dealt in prints but published them. Artists were commissioned to produce prints in any medium and in a limited edition. If the artist lacked printing skills the gallery paid for the services of an expert printer and the costs were recovered by the sale of prints from the edition. Meticulous care was given to the presentation of the print; the finest quality paper was used, accurate registration of colours was attained and prints were sold with clean edges and proper margins. Quality control was introduced to the British print. For the first time since the war artists were encouraged to produce a series or suite of prints held together by a theme and presented in a portfolio following in the tradition of the great French publishers. Several travelling exhibitions were organised by the St. George's Gallery and for the first time contemporary British prints were seen for their real worth abroad in Norway, Sweden, France, Austria and the United States. The British Council played an important part in the organisation of the exhibitions, often with half a dozen shows travelling the world each year. Robert Erskine was also responsible for the encouragement of talented British printers and the move away from the dependence on foreign printing houses. First among them was Stanley Jones. After attending the Slade from 1954 to 1956, Jones won a scholarship to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and specialised in stone and plate lithography. From 1956 to 1958 he worked at the Atelier Patris in Paris printing for such artists as Hayter, Severini, Matta and Giacometti in addition to his own work. In 1958 Erskine visited the Atelier Patris and discussed with Stanley Jones the idea that he and Timothy Simon of the Curwen Press had to open a British printing house based along the French model. Jones was dispatched to Cornwall and began a small pilot scheme in Fore Street, St. Ives. There he printed work by the artists of the St. Ives community which included Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton and Patrick Heron. Eventually, the Curwen Studio was opened at 32A St. Mary Road, Plaistow and Jones was installed as manager. The first artist to work there was his old teacher from the Slade, Ceri Richards. Since then Post-War & Modern British I

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