A charcoal and pencil self-portrait by the prolific Victorian artist Gwen John. Her gaze is off to one side, deliberately avoiding the eyes of the spectator, contrasting the infamous oil self-portrait of Gwen John (1900) that is currently at the National Portrait Gallery. She is wrapped in a shawl blanket, giving this artwork a more relaxed sense compared to her other portraits. It is mounted and placed inside a wooden glazed frame.
Gwen John was born in Haverfordwest, Wales to Edwin William and Augusta John in 1876. She was one of four children, including her brother Augustus John (1878-1961), who also became an artist in his own right. There were no artists in the family, but both Gwen and Augustus were encouraged by their parents to pursue their interests in literature and art. After many years of sketching at Tenby Bay, she finally earned a place to study at the Slade School of Art, the only art school in the UK to accept women at the time.
During her time at the Slade School of Art, she was taught by Henry Tonks (1862-1937), a painter of figure subjects, interiors and caricatures. In her final year of school in 1898, she made her first trip to Paris and eventually studied under American painter James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) at his school, Académie Carmen. She returned to London briefly in 1899 to exhibit her first show but decided to return and ultimately stay in France for the foreseeable future.
It was in Paris that she met many leading artists and cultural personalities of the time including Matisse, Picasso, Rainer Maria Rilke and sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the latter who she modelled for and eventually became romantically attached to. Despite all these connections, she preferred to work in solitude, and she continued to paint and exhibit in both the UK and France. From 1910-1924 she gained a patron in American art collector John Quinn (1870-1924), who purchased most of the works she sold.
In 1913, she converted to Roman Catholicism and moved to the suburban village of Meudon. She became a recluse, with only her cats for company. Her last known work to be created was in 1933, and in 1939 at the age of just 63, she died in Dieppe, France.
This object was audited and researched as part of the Heritage Fund Data Hunters and Story Gatherers project.
