Gwen John. Gwendolen Mary John was a Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her career.
Her paintings, mainly portraits of anonymous female sitters, are rendered in a range of closely related tones. Although she was overshadowed during her lifetime by her brother Augustus John and her lover Auguste Rodin, her reputation has grown steadily since her death.
Gwen John was born in Haverfordwest, Wales, the second of four children of Edwin William John and his wife Augusta. Gwen's elder brother was Thornton John; her younger siblings were Augustus and Winifred.
Edwin John was a solicitor whose dour temperament cast a chill over his family, and Augusta was often absent from the children owing to ill health, leaving her two sisters, stern Salvationists, to take her place in the household. Augusta was an amateur watercolourist, and both parents encouraged the children's interest in literature and art.
Her mother died when Gwen was eight years of age. Regarding her mother's death and the loss of her influence, her brother, Augustus, later wrote: My mother would no doubt have been helpful, but she died when I was a small child, after, I fear, a very tearful existence. Following their mother's premature death in 1884, the family moved to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where the early education of Gwen and her sister Winifred was provided by governesses. In addition to her sister, she also had
Her paintings, mainly portraits of anonymous female sitters, are rendered in a range of closely related tones. Although she was overshadowed during her lifetime by her brother Augustus John and her lover Auguste Rodin, her reputation has grown steadily since her death.
Gwen John was born in Haverfordwest, Wales, the second of four children of Edwin William John and his wife Augusta. Gwen's elder brother was Thornton John; her younger siblings were Augustus and Winifred.
Edwin John was a solicitor whose dour temperament cast a chill over his family, and Augusta was often absent from the children owing to ill health, leaving her two sisters, stern Salvationists, to take her place in the household. Augusta was an amateur watercolourist, and both parents encouraged the children's interest in literature and art.
Her mother died when Gwen was eight years of age. Regarding her mother's death and the loss of her influence, her brother, Augustus, later wrote: My mother would no doubt have been helpful, but she died when I was a small child, after, I fear, a very tearful existence. Following their mother's premature death in 1884, the family moved to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where the early education of Gwen and her sister Winifred was provided by governesses. In addition to her sister, she also had
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