Person of the Week: Sir Mark Jones

Sir Mark Jones
The Victoria & Albert Museum

We spend a lot of time here at Stalking the Belle Epoque looking over the collection at Britain’s glorious Victoria & Albert Museum. The V&A houses one of the world’s most spectacular assortments of art and artifacts ranging from paintings and sculpture to jewelry and toys. It’s an exceptional collection which has been centuries in the making.
The V&A’s director, Sir Mark Jones manages the museum brilliantly. Jones, who has a particular expertise in medals, comes by his love of art history naturally as the son of writer and historian Ann Paludan. While attending Worcester College, Oxford, Jones read Politics, Philosophy and Economics, later taking an MA degree in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Mr. Jones’ next step was to work for eighteen years in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. There, he curated a celebrated exhibition entitled “FAKE? The Art of Deception,” In 1992, Jones furthered his career when he was appointed director of the National Museums of Scotland, through which he managed the 1998 founding of the prize-winning Museum of Scotland. In 2001, Jones was appointed director of the V&A.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

As part of his many duties, Jones is Chairman of the National Museum Directors’ Conference, a trustee of the National Trust, the Gilbert Collection, and the Pilgrim Trust, a member of the Court and Council of the Royal College of Art, Vice President of the British Art Medal Society and the Kensington & Chelsea Decorative & Fine Arts Society, and a patron of the Embroiderers' Guild and the Heritage Crafts Association.

For his services to the arts, in 2010, Jones was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen as Part of the New Year Honors. For all that he has done to encourage the stewardship and understanding of the brilliant arts of the past, Sir Mark Jones is our Person of the Week.