Barrington Watson one of Jamaica’s most eminent artists, was the first Black Man to enroll at Royal College of Art. His son Basil the artist behind many sculptures in Jamaica and the U.K. including the maquette at Waterloo station for Windrush 75.
The Watson quest for artistic excellence began shortly after the inception of the Windrush era when Gloria Thompson and Barrington Watson met on a ship from Jamaica to England in about 1951. Seventy-Five years later we look back to see the three generational Watson legacy in the field of Art, comprising 5 Artists.
Barrington was pursuing his passion for Art when he went to England and eventually became the first Black man to enroll at the Royal College of Art before continuing his studies throughout Europe. In 1962, shortly after Jamaica gained independence, the family returned to live in the Caribbean Island and Barrington became the first Principal and Director of Studies at the newly formed Jamaica School of Art. The family legacy then gathers momentum when his three children attend the college, now the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts. Janis, the eldest, studied painting and went on to further studies in print making in Germany. Raymond and Basil studied sculpture and have gone on to open full time studios and fulfill practicing and teaching careers both within the island and internationally. The third generation Artist is Basil’s son Kai, a painter, who studied Art in the United States at Ohio Wesleyan University and the Art Institute of Chicago.