Gwen John
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Gwen John (June 22, 1876 – September 18, 1939) was a Welsh artist.
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[edit] Life
Gwen(dolen Mary) John was born in Haverfordwest, Wales. 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.
During this same timeframe, she is alleged to have engaged in a bisexual relationship with Vera Oumançoff, sister-in-law of Jacques Maritain.[1]
[edit] Her art works
Gwen John's work consists almost entirely of small-scale portraits and still-lifes. Although she was once overshadowed by her popular brother, critical opinion now tends to view Gwen (as Augustus did) as the more talented of the two.
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.
[edit] Notes
