ArtIndex - all portraits listed in alphabetical order.
Style & Technique - the style and techniques used by Joy.

Surprisingly, Joy Finzi did not start drawing seriously until 1937 when she drew a portrait of her first son, Christopher ('Kiffer'), asleep aged three.

The image on the right is a card sent by the family to Maisie Barnwell ("Barney"), Christmas 1937. On the reverse, Gerald writes,

"Love and all happy wishes from Joyce & Gerald, Christopher & Nigel.
And apologies for the rotten photography! GF" [1]

It was evident to Gerald that Joy demonstrated an immense talent and he actively encouraged her to continue. With so many famous people constantly visiting their large home, Joy was never short of subjects either, although she would never shy away from drawing ordinary country folk as well.

Her style is very reminiscent of classic art sketches and the detail is quite remarkable. As an example, take a look at the portrait of Gerald, dated 1940.

Like many photographers Joy mainly preferred to draw her subjects candidly rather than posed; her own statement in a letter describes this:

"I discovered the fascination of trying to catch a fleeting aspect and came to learn that everything is laid down in the face and often hidden in immobility."

In this way she managed to capture the subtle nuances of any subject, rather than the forced expressions that can be adopted by a posed sitter.

In all, there are believed to be around eighty drawings, most being created prior to Gerald's death. Following a conversation with Nigel, he believes that Gerald was the only real reason why Joy felt she needed to draw and without his encouragement her output was considerably less. Hence the reason why there are more drawings produced prior to 1956.

One rather odd quirk that can be noticed with a good proportion of Joy's work, is the lack of detail paid to the ears of her subjects. A more detailed explanation can be seen in the 'Style & Technique' page.

ArtIndex

Due to the large number of portraits that are available these are grouped in alphabetical order, by surname.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

An alternative method is the ArtIndex where every portrait is listed.