Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 2002 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
80 pages
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Augustus Edwin John, artist, was born at Tenby, Pembrokeshire, on 4 January 1878. He studied at the Slade School in London between 1894 and 1899. A diving accident in 1897 caused severe head injuries, reputedly affecting his personality and painting style. He married Ida Nettleship in 1901 and they had five children. At about the same time, he was appointed to teach art at the University of Liverpool, where he was taught the Romani language. Periods of travelling throughout England and Wales in a gypsy caravan inspired much of his work before World War 1. In 1902, he met Dorothy MacNeill, giving her the Romani name Dorelia. She became his most important model and lifelong inspiration; she moved to Paris with Augustus's sister, the artist Gwen John, the following year. Augustus based himself mainly in Paris in 1906-1907. After Ida's death in 1907, Dorelia became John's partner (they never formally married). They had four children together, both before and after Ida's death. His early period of work was characterised by drawings from life, notably of contemporaries including Ida and Dorelia and his sisters, as well as portraits in oils influenced by the Old Masters and an experimental series of etchings. He was elected President of the National Portrait Gallery in 1914. During World War 1 he spent a brief time in France, employed by the Canadian government as a war artist, and was official artist at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. After a period of painting landscapes and employing a more modern impressionistic idiom, he became increasingly successful as a portrait painter. His subjects included Thomas Hardy, T. E. Lawrence, George Bernard Shaw, and David Lloyd George. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1928, resigned in 1938, and was re-elected in 1940. He was elected President of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1934 and President of the Gypsy Lore Society in 1938. In 1942 he was awarded the Order of Merit for services to art. He died at Fryern Court, Hampshire, his home since 1927, in 1961.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Donated by Mr Barry Taylor, Abingdon, Oxon, July 2002.; 0200209984
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Photocopies of annotated pages of Augustus John's Chiaroscuro (1952), presented to Ronald Storrs by the author, and annotated by Storrs.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Accruals are not expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
This copy of Augustus John, Chiaroscuro is currently in the possession of the donor, Mr Barry Taylor, Abingdon.
Existence and location of copies
A compact disc of the same, created by the donor, is held by the NLW Sound and Moving Image Collection, CD 1632.
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Preferred citation: NLW Facs 957