Karin Jonzen was born to Swedish parents in London in 1914, studying at the Slade School of Art, City and Guilds Art School, and the Royal Academy in Stockholm. Unlike many of her contemporaries, who were drawn to modernism and abstraction, she remained faithful to figurative sculpture, producing many public sculptures, church commissions, and portraits of prominent figures. However, despite early successes and important critics praising her work, from her middle years her popularity began to wane and it was not until 1993, at the end of her life, that she was rediscovered by the dealer David Messum, who offered her an exhibition in his London gallery.
Sculptor Karin Jonzen (née Löwenadler) was born on 22 December 1914 to Swedish parents in London. She attended the Slade School of Art (1933–37), where she won both painting and sculpture prizes. Thanks to a scholarship, she studied for a further year at the City and Guilds Art School, where she trained in stone carving – although much of her later work was predominantly in bronze and terracotta. Aged only 22, she was runner up for the 1937 Prix de Rome, open to all UK and Commonwealth artists under 30. In 1938, she went to study at the Royal Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. Impressed by her Prix de Rome success, the Slade authorities encouraged her to work on a carving for submission to the competition in 1939, which she subsequently won with the sculpture Pietà. During the Second World War, Jonzen joined the Civil Defence and served as an ambulance driver. In 1944 she married Anglo-Swedish artist Basil Jonzen and they opened an art gallery in their elegant Kensington home, in what used to be painter William Orpen's studio, using their own collection as their base stock. The gallery was an instant success and attracted leading collectors such as the Sainsburys, Jacob Epstein, and Kenneth Clark.
Three years later the couple moved to Suffolk. Jonzen’s health deteriorated and she was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. Once she recovered, they returned to London, where Basil started a new gallery in Cork Street with Agatha Sadler and Robert Erskine, called the St George's Gallery. Jonzen enjoyed a period of particular success in the immediate postwar years, showing her work in Modern Sculpture, at Roland, Browse and Delbanco Gallery, Cork Street (1946, the gallery established by émigré dealers), participating in the important Battersea Park Open Air Exhibition (1948); and showing with the left leaning Artists' International Association (AIA) at the Lisle Street Gallery (1948). In 1950 the newly formed Arts Council commissioned a terracotta reclining figure from her and in the same year she produced a life-size figure for the Festival of Britain for Sir Hugh Casson. Although artists were becoming increasingly drawn to abstraction at this time, Jonzen remained faithful to figurative sculpture: 'It seemed to me that to turn away from the figure altogether, as my contemporaries were beginning to do, was unthoughtful. I resolved therefore to persevere with the figure, neither to imitate or distort, but to obey as far as my instinct allowed those mysterious aesthetic laws which govern light and shade in sculpture and to try and make the figure appear to look natural and the features expressive of an inner life; with this aim I have striven ever since' (Jonzen 1994, p. 19).
Despite Jonzen's early successes and despite notable critics, such as Herbert Read and Eric Newton, praising her work, her popularity began to fade mid-career. After her husband succumbed to serious alcoholism she moved to a small Chelsea studio where she lived for the rest of her life. Her work was considered by commercial galleries to be too old-fashioned and at one point she was reduced to making editions of miniature sculptures in bronze-resin for a commercial firm, Heritage. She also gave private sculpture classes in order to make ends meet. It was not until 1993 that she was rediscovered by the West End dealer David Messum, who offered her an exhibition in his eponymous Cork Street gallery. The show proved to be a great success. The painter Carel Weight commented 'She is one of the small band of important sculptors left in this country who derive their inspiration from the human figure and are strong enough to resist the trend of fashionable art. But I believe that there are signs of change in the air and many sculptors in the future may be grateful to artists such as Karin Jonzen who have helped to keep the great tradition alive'. Her numerous commissions included an over-life-size ascension group in bronze for Selwyn College Chapel, Cambridge (1956); carvings on the exterior of St. Michael’s Church, Golders Green (1959) and Guilford Cathedral (1961); Madonna and Child for St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside (1969); a life-size bronze figure for the City of London close to London Wall (1971); and a three-quarter life-size Pietà in bronze resin for the Swedish Church, Harcourt Street (1975). Jonzen was also a renowned portraitist and produced, among others, busts of Ivor Novello, Malcolm Muggeridge, Sir Alan Herbert, and Max Von Sydow. She exhibited almost annually with the Royal Academy of Arts from 1944–96, with the New English Art Club, Royal Society of British Artists (RBS), and The London Group. Her many exhibitions included solo shows at the Fieldborne Gallery (1974) and David Messum Gallery (1996). In 1982 she contributed a portrait bust to Jewish Faces , organised by the Contemporary Portrait Society at the Ben Uri Gallery. She also taught at St Martin's School of Art (1956), Camden Arts Centre (1968–72) and London University (1965–70).
Karin Jonzen died in London, England on 29 January 1998. Her work is represented in UK public collections, including Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Arts Council Collection.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Karin Jonzen]
Publications related to [Karin Jonzen] in the Ben Uri Library