Gwen John

Gwendolen Mary John, called Gwen John ( born June 22, 1876 in Haverfordwest, † September 18, 1939 in Dieppe ) was a Welsh painter.

Life and work

Gwen John was the older sister of the painter Augustus John. In 1895 she studied for three years at London's Slade School of Art, then followed four months painting studies with James McNeill Whistler in Paris. In 1899 she returned to London, settled in 1904 but finally settled in France. Gwen stood among other things the sculptor Auguste Rodin in Paris model, resulting in a love relationship developed. From 1911 she lived in Meudon, a suburb of Paris. In 1913 she came to the Catholic faith, which inspired her: "My religion and my art, thesis are my life " ( "My religion and my art determine my life ").

Her work consists mainly of portraits of young women, including nuns. In life, she had only in 1936 an exhibition at the New Chenil Galleries in London and reached up to their end of life little notoriety. Her brother Augustus John had predicted that she would one day be the better painter recognized by both. Since the 1960s, several books have been published about them and exhibitions were organized. Her works are in the collection inventory so prestigious museums such as the Tate Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Literature (selection )

• Alicia Foster: Gwen John. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1999, ISBN 0 - 691-02944 -X
• Cecily Langdale, David F. Jenkins: Gwen John: an interior life. Rizzoli, New York 1986, ISBN 0-8478-0681-2
• Alexandra Lavizzari: Gwen John. Rodin's little muse, novel. Clock Tower Publishers, Bern 2001, ISBN 978-3-7296-0620-3