Anthony Jadunath was born in Trinidad in 1945, his grandfather having moved there from India. A highly recognised ‘Outsider Artist’ in later life, Jadunath arrived in England aged nine in 1954 and, following a difficult childhood, endured stints in several institutions. At age 15 he was confined to a psychiatric hospital and it was here that he started to see art as a release. He worked on building sites and factories to earn money in adult life but constantly painted and sculpted in his spare time; art was to become a deeply spiritual experience, unleashing forces deep within him. Red was Jadunath’s favourite colour in art, powerful and symbolic of suffering.
In 1967 Jadunath took part in his first exhibition at Fairfield Halls, Croydon and in the 1970s he began to work teaching art to children at the Barbican Centre and the People’s Gallery. After taking an etching course at Croydon Art School his work gained greater recognition; Victor Musgrave of Gallery One purchased twenty of his works for the Outsider Archive Collection which he set up with Monika Kinley in 1981. This was originally under the aegis of the Tate Gallery but was disbanded in 1998; some remnants, including two of Jadunath’s works, in 2010 found a permanent home in the Outsider Art Collection at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. His work was also included in England & Co’s major exhibition ‘Outsiders & Co’ in 1996.
Jadunath suffered the amputations of his legs, one in 2002 and then the other in 2007, but only stopped painting towards the end of his life. He had a show in London in 2007 and a major exhibition in Liverpool from August to October 2008 as part of its European Capital of Culture Programme. His final solo show in 2009 was at New Art Exchange, Nottingham titled ‘Jadunath: RED’.
