Gwen John

Painter of portraits (chiefly of women) and interiors characterized by a soft, tone-on-tone technique and intimate mood. John's work bridged the aesthetic divide between the art worlds of London and Paris during the early decades of the twentieth century. She attended the Slade School in 1895, leaving for Paris in 1898 to study with Whistler. She returned to London from 1899 to 1903, but in the following year settled again in Paris, which remained her professional base for the rest of her career. During her first ten years in Paris, John supplemented her income by working as an artist's model, posing for the sculptor Auguste Rodin among others. In 1913 she converted to Roman Catholicism and thereafter produced many delicate, small-scale depictions of nuns. Often doubtful of her achievements, she was reluctant to sell her paintings and exhibited in London and Paris with trepidation.

[Great British Paintings Label Text]