Jonzen, Karin, 1914–1998

Susanna c.1970

Karin Jonzen (1914–1998)

Southend Museums Service

Sculptor and teacher, born in London of Swedish parents, and continued to live there. Her husband was the artist and dealer Basil Jonzen, and their son the artist Martin Jonzen, and after Basil’s death she married the Swedish poet Åke (pronounced Orker) Sucksdorff, whom she had met in the late-1920s. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, 1933–6, winning both painting and sculpture prizes; gained a scholarship in 1936 for a fourth year, and attended the City and Guilds Art School, Kennington; also studying at the Royal Academy in Stockholm. In 1939 won the Prix de Rome, but war – during which she served as an ambulance driver – prevented her from going to Italy. After the war Jonzen was elected a fellow of RBS and won the Feodora Gleichen Memorial Fund award as well as a series of international gold and silver medals.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)

Shining a light on women sculptors in Britain
Penelope Curtis

Biography on Wikipedia

Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/

Karin Margareta Jonzen [commonly known as Karin Jonzen; also known as Karin Margareta Sucksdorff] was born Karin Löwenadler, to Swedish parents in London, England on 22 December 1914. She studied at the Slade School of Art, University College London from 1933 to 1937; the City and Guilds School in Kennington, London in 1938; and at the Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna in Stockholm in 1938. She subsequently returned to England and in 1939 won the Prix de Rome. However, the outbreak of World War One that year prevented her from continuing her studies in Italy. During the war she served as an Civil Defence ambulance driver.

Following the war she embarked on a career as a sculptor. Her work was mainly figurative, and her preferred medium was terracotta and bronze. She was influenced by the art of Ancient Greece.

She was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London from 1944 to 1989. She also exhibited at the Society of Women Artists in London in 1966, and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh in 1967. Several solo exhibitions of her work were held, including at Fieldborne Gallery in London in 1974 and the David Messum Gallery in London 1996. She won the Feodora Gleichen Award in 1948.

Notable among her commissions were Mother and Child, a statue for Sydenham Hill Estate, London (1961); The Gardener, a statue for London Wall, City of London (1971-72); Beyond Tomorrow, a bronze group for the Barbican Centre, London (1972); St. Anne and Mary , a statue for St. Anne's Church, Lewes, Sussex (1990); and bronze statues for the World Health Organization buildings in New Delhi and Geneva (1960s). She produced a number of portrait busts including of the diplomat Sir Hugh Dow (1964), the art critic Eric Newton (1965) the architect Sir Hugh Casson (1966); the cricketer and politician Sir Learie Constantine (1971); and Samuel Pepys (1983).

In addition to her work as a sculptor, she taught at St Martin's School of Art in London; Thanet School of Art; London University; and at Camden Arts Centre.

In 1944 she married the painter and art dealer Basil George Jonzen (1913-1967). Following his death, she married the Swedish poet Erik Åke Joakim Sucksdorff (1906-1992)

Her address was given as 22 Oakwood Court, London in 1944; 9 Redcliffe Square, London in 1945 and 1946; 9 South Bolton Gardens, London in 1947 and 1950; The White House, Chelswood, near Ipswich, Suffolk in 1951 and 1952; Wareside Lodge. Wareside, Hampshire in 1953; 28 Lennox Gardens, London in 1955 and 1957; 98b Fellows Road, London in 1959; 118 Adelaide Road, London in 1960; 92a Fordwych Road, London in 1962 and 1979; 64 Gunter Grove, London in 1980; and The Studio, 6 Gunter Grove, London in 1981 and 1989. She died in London on 29 January 1998.