- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus (1 Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0701166959
- ISBN-13: 978-0701166953
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 385,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Gwen John
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Born in 1876, Gwen John is one of the "modern Victorians", a woman Whose life continues to challenge her biographers. "The real mystery of Gwen John's life," as Sue Roe points out at the beginning of Gwen John, "may turn out to have less to do with her own elusiveness than with the problem of why we find it so difficult to imagine the life-style and frame of mind of a woman artist living alone." Drawing on a wide range of unpublished letters, diaries and notebooks, Roe attempts to describe both: the lifestyle--bohemian, roaming, daring--and the frame of mind--at once rebellious and fragile--of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. As if in imitation of that life, Gwen John proceeds at (sometimes breathless) speed. Roe is close to her subject, and she helps her readers to get closer. Through numerous well-chosen quotations, John's voice is heard throughout the book. Speaking of her celebrated relationship with Rodin, for example (in which eroticism gives rise to a desire for conformity: "She just wanted to be his wife"), or of her powerful identification between life and work ("Your life can still be a work of art"). Over and over again, John painted women in rooms: a theme which is reflected through Roe's tracking of John from Paris to London to Meudon--a series of lodgings and rooms in which John carves out a space in which she can live and paint. It's a fascinating, if sometimes disjointed, story in which Gwen John remains a figure with interiors--mapped onto the remarkable body of work that Roe opens up for a new audience. --Vicky Lebeau
Product Description
A biography of Gwen John, sister of painter Augustus John. Though a painter in her own right, Gwen's life was bound up with Augustus, his women and his coteries. She was defiant yet shy, she painted and modelled amid the Bohemian circles of early 20th-century Paris and had a long love affair with the French sculptor Rodin. She was a friend of Symbolist poets and post-Impressionist painters. Later she turned to religion, which helped her to achieve a serenity that masked her inner turbulence, all influencing her haunting paintings. Based on her lively and passionate letters, this biography uncovers the life of an ardent and complicated personality of an early 20th-century artist.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Gwen John, born in 1876, older sister of Augustus John, model and muse of Rodin, went to the Slade School of Fine Art in 1895, on the recommendation of her brother who had begun his studies there the year before. At the Slade, where she was taught by the renowned Henry Tonks and Frederick Brown, her early drawings showed fine draughtsmanship, but her promise and talent were held back by self-deprecation - after all it was her brother, Augustus, who was expected to be the more talented of the two. Although Gwen's John's life in her later years, gave rise to it being generally thought that she was a modest, solitary and reclusive person (and, indeed, in some ways she was), one of Sue Roe's aims in this biography is to show that this was not necessarily the case and that Gwen could be daring, defiant and highly original.
Shortly after leaving the Slade, Gwen went with Ida Nettleship (later to become Augustus' wife) to Paris, where she spent six months being taught by Whistler at the Academie Carmen. She returned to England in 1899 and in 1900 she started to exhibit her work at the New English Art Club. In 1902, Gwen met Dorothy (Dorelia) McNeill (later to become Augustus' life-long partner) a beautiful and unorthodox woman who fascinated Gwen and appealed to the more reckless side of her nature. In 1903 Gwen announced her plan to walk from Bordeaux to Rome, accompanied by Dorelia and although her family thought she was mad, both she and Dorelia were not to be dissuaded. From Bordeaux they walked along the route of the River Garonne, sleeping in haystacks under the stars and living on bread, grapes and beer. They got as far as Toulouse and then made the decision to change direction and make for Paris. And it was in Paris that Gwen met and embarked upon an intense love affair with the legendary sculptor, Rodin, whilst living through the most exciting period in the history of modern European painting.
Gwen made France her home for the remainder of her life, living in Paris and Meudon until her death in 1939, modelling, painting and producing work whose unique qualities were recognized during her lifetime and beyond. In 1942 when Augustus John was at the height of his fame, he predicted: " ... in fifty years I shall be remembered as Gwen John's brother" and although Gwen was overshadowed by the reputation of her younger brother in her lifetime, we can now see that Augustus' prediction had some validity, for Gwen John has now become a celebrated artist of international fame and is regarded as one of the finest artists of her day.
Although not a lengthy volume, this biography is both interesting and informative and includes a good selection of illustrations; one section in black and white and a section in colour of some of Gwen John's wonderful portraits, including: `Self Portrait' 1900'; `Dorelia in a Black Dress' 1903-4; and, a personal favourite of mine: `A Lady Reading' 1910-11. Sue Roe has carried out her research well and, having had access to Gwen John's unpublished letters, diaries and notebooks she has produced an interesting, thoughtful and engrossing biography of a talented, unusual and complex woman.
4 Stars. Also recommended: Augustus John: The New Biography by Michael Holroyd.
Note: This book may not be available as a new book from Amazon but, at the time of writing, there are new copies - both hardback and paperback - available from Amazon Marketplace.
Shortly after leaving the Slade, Gwen went with Ida Nettleship (later to become Augustus' wife) to Paris, where she spent six months being taught by Whistler at the Academie Carmen. She returned to England in 1899 and in 1900 she started to exhibit her work at the New English Art Club. In 1902, Gwen met Dorothy (Dorelia) McNeill (later to become Augustus' life-long partner) a beautiful and unorthodox woman who fascinated Gwen and appealed to the more reckless side of her nature. In 1903 Gwen announced her plan to walk from Bordeaux to Rome, accompanied by Dorelia and although her family thought she was mad, both she and Dorelia were not to be dissuaded. From Bordeaux they walked along the route of the River Garonne, sleeping in haystacks under the stars and living on bread, grapes and beer. They got as far as Toulouse and then made the decision to change direction and make for Paris. And it was in Paris that Gwen met and embarked upon an intense love affair with the legendary sculptor, Rodin, whilst living through the most exciting period in the history of modern European painting.
Gwen made France her home for the remainder of her life, living in Paris and Meudon until her death in 1939, modelling, painting and producing work whose unique qualities were recognized during her lifetime and beyond. In 1942 when Augustus John was at the height of his fame, he predicted: " ... in fifty years I shall be remembered as Gwen John's brother" and although Gwen was overshadowed by the reputation of her younger brother in her lifetime, we can now see that Augustus' prediction had some validity, for Gwen John has now become a celebrated artist of international fame and is regarded as one of the finest artists of her day.
Although not a lengthy volume, this biography is both interesting and informative and includes a good selection of illustrations; one section in black and white and a section in colour of some of Gwen John's wonderful portraits, including: `Self Portrait' 1900'; `Dorelia in a Black Dress' 1903-4; and, a personal favourite of mine: `A Lady Reading' 1910-11. Sue Roe has carried out her research well and, having had access to Gwen John's unpublished letters, diaries and notebooks she has produced an interesting, thoughtful and engrossing biography of a talented, unusual and complex woman.
4 Stars. Also recommended: Augustus John: The New Biography by Michael Holroyd.
Note: This book may not be available as a new book from Amazon but, at the time of writing, there are new copies - both hardback and paperback - available from Amazon Marketplace.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sue Roe has clearly read lots of Gwen John's letters, and even visited many of the places that were important to Gwen John. The book is informative about the people around her who were important to her, too. Yet at the same time, it's difficult to gain any sense of why Gwen John chose to do the things she did: become an artist, live in France for most of her life, for example. It may be that there simply isn't any evidence (from her letters, for example) that would answer these questions. Overall I found the book factually informative, but it still left me wondering what Gwen John was really like.
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