Jann Haworth
Jann Haworth was born in 1942 and raised in Hollywood, California. Her mother Miriam Haworth worked as a distinguished ceramist, printmaker, and painter. Her father Ted Haworth won an Academy Award for art direction. This environment surrounded her with artistic talent from a very young age. She describes the experience as having a strong influential impact on her goals. The family influence shaped how she presented installation pieces or two-dimensional works. After years of experimental artwork, Jann Haworth took her talents to the University of California, Los Angeles in 1959. Two years at UCLA led her to move in 1961 to London, England. There she studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She also studied studio art at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Haworth soon became a leading figure of the British Pop Art movement during the 1960s. She joined Pauline Boty as one of its only female practitioners in London. Her first major exhibition appeared at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1963. She participated in Four Young Artists alongside John Howlin, Brian Mills, and John Pearson. Three shows followed at the Robert Fraser Gallery in London. Two of those were solo exhibitions. Her work was seen in Amsterdam and Milan. It also featured in the Hayward Gallery's landmark exhibition of Pop Art in 1968. That same year, she and Peter Blake won a Grammy for their album cover design of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She reveled in being a rebellious woman artist within a conservative, male-dominated institution like the Slade.
Gallery owner Robert Fraser suggested to The Beatles that they commission Peter Blake and Haworth to design the cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The original concept involved The Beatles dressed in new Northern brass band uniforms appearing at an official ceremony in a park. For the great crowd gathered at this imaginary event, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Haworth, Blake, and Fraser all submitted lists of characters. Blake and Haworth then pasted life-size black-and-white photographs of approved characters onto hardboard. Haworth subsequently hand-tinted these images. She added several cloth dummies to the assembly including one of her Old Lady figures. A Shirley Temple doll wore a Welcome The Rolling Stones sweater. Inspired by the municipal flower-clock in Hammersmith, West London, Haworth came up with the idea of writing out the name of the band in civic flower-bed lettering.
It was in those formative years at art school that her aesthetic sense was first established. She began experimenting with sewn and stuffed soft sculptures. She made still life items such as flowers and doughnuts. She quickly progressed to her now iconic Old Lady doll and other life-sized figures. Her work often contained specific references to American culture and Hollywood in particular. This is readily apparent in her dummies of Mae West, Shirley Temple, and W.C. Fields. These pieces demonstrated technical development in sewn and stuffed materials. They featured iconic American cultural figures rendered in fabric and thread rather than traditional stone or metal.
Haworth was a visionary and a pioneer in the face of the American feminist movements of the 1960s. She challenged gendered stereotypes through her artworks while emphasizing female identity. Her soft sculptures emphasized iconic female symbols. Haworth refused to let her male peers intimidate her or diminish her success. She became an advocate for feminist rights especially for the representation of women in the art world. Her refusal to conform allowed her to maintain a distinct voice within a male-dominated field. The art community recognized this stance through various exhibitions and critical acclaim over decades.
In 1979 she founded and ran The Looking Glass School near Bath, Somerset. It served as an arts-and-crafts primary and middle school. During the subsequent two decades, her artistic career took second place to raising a young family. Still, she found time to illustrate six books by Richard Severy under the name Karen Haworth. She also created five covers for the 1981 Methuen Arden Shakespeare editions. After mounting two solo exhibitions at Gimpel fils London in the mid-1990s, Haworth won a fellowship in 1997 to study American quilt-making. She returned to the United States and took up residence in Sundance, Utah. There she founded Art Shack Studios and Glass Recycling Works. She co-founded the Sundance Mountain Charter School which is now called Soldier Hollow Charter School.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When and where was Jann Haworth born?
Jann Haworth was born in 1942 and raised in Hollywood, California. Her mother Miriam Haworth worked as a distinguished ceramist, printmaker, and painter.
What did Jann Haworth study at the University of California Los Angeles and later in London?
Jann Haworth attended the University of California Los Angeles from 1959 to 1961 before moving to London in 1961. She studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art and studio art at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Who designed the cover for The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with Jann Haworth?
Peter Blake and Jann Haworth won a Grammy Award together in 1968 for their album cover design of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They created life-size black-and-white photographs pasted onto hardboard and hand-tinted them.
Why is Jann Haworth considered important to British Pop Art during the 1960s?
Jann Haworth became a leading figure of the British Pop Art movement during the 1960s alongside Pauline Boty. She participated in major exhibitions including Four Young Artists and three shows at the Robert Fraser Gallery in London.
When did Jann Haworth found The Looking Glass School near Bath Somerset?
In 1979 she founded and ran The Looking Glass School near Bath, Somerset as an arts-and-crafts primary and middle school. During the subsequent two decades her artistic career took second place to raising a young family.