Jamaica Plantation, Tropical Landscape (1950) Original Signed Lithograph by John Minton (1917-1957)

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John Minton, (1917-1957)

Jamaica Plantation, Tropical Landscape, 1950

Lithograph

38 x 27 cm

From an edition of 50

Printed at Miller’s Press, Lewes

Signed lower right

Framed in oak

As a result of an inheritance, from 1949 onwards Minton was able to travel widely, which inspired new subject matter for his work and enriched his palette. On September 9th, 1950, he sailed for the West Indies by banana boat. On arrival, he noted that:

…beneath this surface, the life of the island, the inner conflict of politics, race, wealth, poverty and unemployment, made acute by the crumbling away of colonial life which is forever past, goes on: for the island, like everywhere else, faces the problem of its equilibrium in a mad world.

Fascinated by his surroundings, Minton filled numerous sketch books with watercolours and ‘small drawings of things that hold the eye’. The glowing tropical colour and the jagged patterns created by palms and lush vegetation made a deep impression. His lithograph Jamaica Plantation, Tropical Landscape was produced at the urging of Frances Byng Stamper and Caroline Lucas of the Miller’s Press in Lewes and is based on an oil painting which Minton made on his return to London. The Manchester Guardian critic noticed that he had ‘fastened on the banana tree as tightly as Sutherland had clasped the more uncomfortable thorn-tree to his bosom.’