Augustus John was a British painter, etcher and draughtsman, who represented Post-Impressionism movement. Also, he was a leading portraitist, who produced portraits of the leading European personalities, such as politicians, society ladies and literary figures. Moreover, Augustus wrote two books, such as "Chiaroscuro: Fragments of Autobiography" and "Finishing Touches".
Background
Augustus John was born on January 4, 1878 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom. He was a son of Edwin William John, a Welsh solicitor, and Augusta Smith. Also, Augustus had three siblings, the most famous of which was his sister Gwen John, also a painter.
Education
During the period from 1894 till 1898, Augustus studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. At the school, he was a pupil of Henry Tonks and some time before his graduation, John was recognized as the most talented draughtsman of his generation.
Later, Augustus studied art in Paris, where he was probably influenced by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.
John's painting technique, which was slower to develop, at first revealed his attempt to combine the tradition of dark-toned Impressionism current among artists of the New English Art Club with something of the grandeur of Rembrandt and other Old Masters, but gradually he began to work with brighter colors and a more simplified composition. This tendency reached its peak about 1911-1914 in a series of small, brilliantly coloured paintings, executed in North Wales, the majority of which showed figures in a setting of lakes and mountains.
Influenced perhaps by contemporary movements like the Celtic revival, John was greatly attracted to Irish tinkers, Normandy fisherfolk and above all the gypsies, whose language he learned and with whom he camped. Augustus felt great sympathy for people, who lived independent, undisciplined lives in close contact with nature, and he expressed this in a series of drawings and large-scale decorative figure paintings, almost all of which remained at the project stage or were left unfinished.
Although, the painter continued throughout his life to paint occasional nude studies, flower paintings, landscapes and figure compositions, he became increasingly involved with portraiture, which forms the main body of his work. Some of his most successful portraits, rendered with spontaneous, flamboyant directness, are those of his family and his friends, including William Butler Yeats and George Bernard Shaw. In his commissioned portraits of society figures, if the face and personality had little to interest him, John would often have recourse to mannerisms, such as large liquid eyes and elongated chins and necks.
John's method of painting depended to a great extent on improvisation and on preserving the freshness and immediacy of the sketch. He took little interest in the more radical developments of 20th-century art, and by the time of his death on October 31, 1961, his work had somewhat lost touch with the most vital currents of his day.
Also, between 1901-1904, Augustus held the post of a Professor of Painting at the University of Liverpool. During World War I, he was attached to the Canadian forces as a war artist. At that time, John produced portraits of British and Canadian soldiers.
Quotations:
"A painter leaves his emotions behind him for posterity to share."
"The promptitude, with which many painters, on arriving at an entirely new and unfamiliar place, settle down to work at once, never fails to astonish me: it seems indecent, like button-holing a complete stranger."
Membership
Augustus joined the Peace Pledge Union as a pacifist in the 1950's and was a founding member of the Committee of 100, a British anti-war group. Also, he was a prominent member of New English Art Club, where he exhibited his works very often. In 1928, he was made a Royal Academician.
Royal Academy of Arts
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United Kingdom
1921
Royal Academy of Arts
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United Kingdom
1928
Royal Society of Portrait Painters
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United Kingdom
1948 - 1953
Tate Gallery
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United Kingdom
1933 - 1941
Gypsy Lore Society
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United Kingdom
1937 - 1961
Connections
In 1901, John married his first wife, Ida Nettleship, who was an artist. Their marriage produced five children. One of their sons, Sir Caspar John, became a senior Royal Navy officer, and their daughter, Vivien John, was a notable painter. After Ida's death in 1907, Dorelia McNeill, a Bohemian style icon, became his life partner. They gave birth to two children, but never married.
During his life time, he had affairs with many other women, with whom he also had children. Together with Evelyn Ste Croix Fleming, John had a daughter, Amaryllis Fleming, who became a noted cellist. John's other son, by Mavis de Vere Cole, wife of the prankster Horace de Vere Cole, is the television director Tristan de Vere Cole. His son Romilly was a civil servant, poet, author and amateur physicist. Also, Augustus' daughter, Gwyneth Johnstone, by musician Nora Brownsword, was an artist.
According to rumors, John had more than 100 children.
Augustus John: The New Biography
This book recounts the life of the painter and the three women, who shaped his life: his wife, Ida, his muse and model, Dorelia, and his mysterious sister, Gwen, an artist.
1996
Augustus John: Drawn from Life
This work reexamines the life and work of Augustus John, who was a significant, but increasingly overlooked British artist. Focusing on around sixty works, the book will offer new insights into John’s life and development as an artist from the late 1890's to the outbreak of the Second World War.