Gwen John: Strange Beauties

Time for another jaunt, this time by train to Cardiff's National Gallery with my friend Cathy, to see the exhibition of art by one of my favourite painters, Gwen John.

First thing we saw upon entering the Gallery was Bristol-based artist, Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon', which we both found a bit underwhelming, though interestingly, it looks far more impressive in photos than in real life. 

It's decades since I first encountered Gwen John. At that time, her brother, Augustus, was the more famous sibling, and I particularly liked his famous portrait of a very young Dylan Thomas, but I was soon drawn more to Gwen's portraits of women who gazed directly out of the canvas - or sat with their backs to it - and her repeated paintings of a sunlit attic room, furnished with a chair and a book. I dreamed of having a space to myself like that.

Self-Portrait, c1902

Self-Portrait, 1905

Self-Portait, Nude, Sketching (1908 - 1909)

La Chambre sur la Cour, 1904 - 1907

A Corner of the Artist's Room in Paris, 1907

A Lady Reading, 1910

To his credit, Augustus was also aware of her genius, declaring 'Fifty years after my death, I shall be remembered as Gwen John's brother'.

                            

Portrait Group, 1897

In the above watercolour, Winifred John, Gwen's sister, is seated at the table in white; Augustus John is the figure wearing the hat; the artist is the woman visible through the window.

'Gwen, the Artist's sister' by Augustus John

Gwen was born in Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire in 1876, moving at the age of 8 to Tenby, following her mother's death.

Landscape of Tenby with figures, 1896-97

In 1895, she left Wales to study at the Slade School of Art in London, never to return, and by 1904 she was settled in Paris, working as an artist and an artist's model. Before long she was modelling for Auguste Rodin, and in a relationship with him.

Head of Gwen John, by Auguste Rodin

This is the famous association everyone remembers, but John had intense, intimate relationships with men and women throughout her life. She acquired her first cat in 1904 and named her Edgar Quinet, after the street she was living in. Around 1913, she entered the Catholic Church. She lived her life on her own terms.

Study after 'Spirit of Eternal Repose', 1905

I have to say, I had hoped the exhibition might have been rather more extensive than it is, though the artworks the museum assembled to exhibit were thoughtfully displayed. For instance, I loved seeing five of the ten versions of 'The Convalescent' John is known to have painted between 1918 and 1924 side-by-side ... 

... and also certain paintings displayed above their studies:

  

Girl with Bare Shoulders and Nude Girl, both 1910 

It's been many years since I read Sue Roe's biography, Gwen John A Life. Time I think, to read Alice Foster's Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris (2023).