gwen john

Gwen John (June 22, 1876 – September 18, 1939) was a Welsh artist.

Life

Gwen(dolen Mary) John was born in Haverfordwest, Wales. The family moved to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales, following the mother’s premature death in 1884. Like her younger brother, Augustus John, Gwen studied at the Slade School of Art (1895-98). She worked briefly in Paris with James Whistler and began to exhibit her work in London in 1899. In 1906, she began modelling for the sculptor Auguste Rodin in Paris, where she then lived, and became his mistress.

She may have had a bisexual relationship with Véra Oumançoff, sister-in-law of Jacques Maritain.^[1]

Her art works

Gwen John's work consists almost entirely of small-scale portraits and still-lifes. Though she was once overshadowed by her popular brother, critical opinion now tends to view Gwen as the more talented of the two.^[2] Augustus himself had predicted this reversal, saying "In 50 years' time I will be known as the brother of Gwen John."^[3]

Her portraits favored seated women in a three-quarter length format, with their hands in their laps. John painted slowly, often returning to a theme repeatedly. She preferred painting of reduced tone and subtle colour relationships, in contrast to her brother's far more vivid palette. In addition to studio work, she sketched women and children on trains and in church. She also painted many pictures of cats.

John's pictures have been placed in many public collections, with some of the best examples in the National Gallery of Wales and the Tate.

Notes