Biography
Professor Anthony 'Tony' Jones CBE FRSA was born in the UK, studied at Newport School of Art, Wales and Goldsmiths College, London and in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar where he received an MFA from Tulane in New Orleans. He was a sculptor and is an internationally known arts administrator, broadcaster, writer, and historian of art and design. He was the Director of the Glasgow School of Art (1980-1986); Director of the Royal College of Art, London (1992-96) and Chancellor of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and co-CEO of the corporation of the Art Institute (1996-2011). In 2014, Jones joined the Kansas City Art Institute as Interim President, becoming The Nerman Family President of the Institute (its 24th) in 2015.
Jones has published several books and many essays on art and design, curated numerous exhibitions, and has hosted several television series for the BBC. He is a recognised authority on the development of art, design and architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in particular the work of architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Celtic Revival designer Archibald Knox. He is honorary Director of the Osaka University of the Arts, Honorary Professor of the University of Wales, was conferred the Austrian Cross for services to European education. He has been awarded four Honorary Doctorates, was made an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects, is the Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and received the Award of Distinction of the American National Council of Arts Administrators.