Painting, 1937
Jack began a medical training at Cambridge University, achieving his First M.B. (roughly equivalent to science A-levels) before announcing to his initially disappointed father that he wanted to become an artist.
He attended St Martin's School of Art in London from 1929 to 1932 (aged 18 to 20) and, apparently at his parents' request, his cousin Barbara Hepworth and her first husband the sculptor John Skeaping, already established artists, took Jack under their wing. "It was not long before they split up and when Ben Nicholson took Barbara over he took me over as well." Jack was Ben Nicholson's pupil from 1932 to 1936.
During the 1930s Jack lived at 22 Parkhill Road, Belsize Park NW3 close to The Mall Studios. At different times he also lived at 41 Parkhill Road and 87 Haverstock Hill. In the pre-war years The Mall Studios were occupied by Cecil Stephenson, Herbert Read and Jack's cousin Barbara Hepworth, initially with John Skeaping and later with Ben Nicholson. Close neighbours in Parkhill Road included Henry Moore, Naum Gabo and Piet Mondrian. Jack worked as an abstract painter, using the name Arthur Jackson, and as a photographer of works of art and art exhibitions. His paintings were shown in a number of London and provincial exhibitions.
During the 1930s Jack lived at 22 Parkhill Road, Belsize Park NW3 close to The Mall Studios. At different times he also lived at 41 Parkhill Road and 87 Haverstock Hill. In the pre-war years The Mall Studios were occupied by Cecil Stephenson, Herbert Read and Jack's cousin Barbara Hepworth, initially with John Skeaping and later with Ben Nicholson. Close neighbours in Parkhill Road included Henry Moore, Naum Gabo and Piet Mondrian. Jack worked as an abstract painter, using the name Arthur Jackson, and as a photographer of works of art and art exhibitions. His paintings were shown in a number of London and provincial exhibitions.
In working alongside Ben and Barbara, who were both significantly older than him and were now at the forefront of the modern movement, Jack accepted that he was a "mere student on sufferance" who never actually met Ben's family or their close friends: "However, I did know Henry Moore (who did not altogether approve of me) and sometimes worked for him roughing out, as I did for Barbara."
He became acquainted with many significant figures of the modern movement in addition to those already named, including Naum Gabo, Piet Mondrian, Winifred Nicholson and, most significantly for his future career, the architects Leslie Martin and his wife Sadie Speight.
