The art world mourns the loss of Jane Birt, an Anglo-American painter and illustrator whose vibrant life and work spanned continents and decades. She passed away from cancer at the age of 82.
A Life in Colour and Canvas
Jane Birt built a distinguished artistic career, working masterfully in both watercolours and oils. Her talent graced the walls of prestigious venues including Manchester's Portico Gallery, London's Leighton House, the Piers Feetham Gallery, and the Mall Galleries. She also lent her illustrative skills to publications, most notably providing the artwork for Mr Harty’s Grand Tour (1988), a travelogue by broadcaster Russell Harty.
In a fitting culmination to a creative life, 2024 saw the publication of The Oxford Asparagus Society, an illustrated memoir she co-wrote with her lifelong friend Peggy van Etten Coats. The book charmingly documents their transatlantic journey from the US to the UK during the swinging 1960s.
From Washington DC to Rural Wales
Born in Washington DC, Jane was one of three children. Her father, James Lake, served as a codebreaker in naval intelligence before moving into insurance, while her mother, Susan (née Townsend), was a nurse. After growing up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, she studied art at the Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh.
Driven by wanderlust, Jane and Peggy set sail for England to study at the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford University in 1962. Immersing herself in the arts scene, she met and fell in love with John Birt, an engineering student at St Catherine’s College. The couple married in 1965. John Birt's career trajectory saw him become a TV producer, the Director-General of the BBC in 1992, and later Lord Birt in 2000.
Jane was renowned for her generosity and ability to forge friendships at every stage. She was a consummate host at the family's London home and, from the 1970s onward, at their property in rural mid-Wales.
Creativity, Community, and Courage
In the 1980s, seeking light relief from the intense scrutiny of her husband's role at the BBC, Jane founded the flamboyant Hat Club. This social club organised literary and cultural excursions across the UK and occasionally abroad for the couple and their circle.
Jane faced a diagnosis of breast cancer in the 1990s, which led to decades of health challenges. She confronted these with a remarkably positive mindset, fiercely determined to remain socially engaged and creatively active.
Her commitment to community shone in Wales, where she served as vice-president of the Gwenddwr show and a trustee of the Brecknock Wildlife Trust. Following her divorce in 2006, she re-evaluated her life, settling full-time in Crickadarn. There, she returned to her art with renewed vigour and even took up the thrilling sport of Welsh trotting, or harness racing.
Her family and friends will forever remember her boundless joie de vivre. Her grandchildren have fond memories of festive dinners, Eid-Easter egg hunts in the garden, heaps of golden macaroni cheese, cosy film noir sessions with her dachshunds, and Bollywood re-enactments in her library. A cherished tradition was her practice of sending uniquely hand-painted birthday cards to loved ones each year, creating a personal archive of her life in pictures.
Jane Birt is survived by her son, Yahya, her daughter, Eliza, and her five grandchildren, Sulayman, Max, Layla, Bella, and Oscar. Her two brothers predeceased her.
