Study of Dorelia, head and shoulders
With a self-proclaimed contempt for sentimentality, Augustus John spent much of his artistic career painting portraits of people close to him, yet portrayed them in a manner slightly removed from reality. John painted people as imagined characters, an exaggeration of the people in front of him.
Augustus John was a Welsh painter and draughtsman born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, in 1878, and the younger brother of fellow artist Gwen John. At the age of 17, he briefly attended the Tenby School of Art, before moving to the Slade School of Art, along with his sister. John was taught by Henry Tonks, and won the Slade Prize in 1898. He married in 1901, and shortly afterwards began teaching at the University of Liverpool.
From 1910-28, John was entranced by the town of Martigues, Provence, and spent a great deal of time there. In this period, he became Britain’s leading portrait painter, and captured many distinguished subjects. When the Second World War broke out, he became a war artist for the Canadian forces.
John became a member of the New English Art Club, his chief exhibitor from that point onwards. In 1921 he was made an Associate Royal Academician, and 7 years later, a full Academician. He was trustee of the Tate Gallery (1933-41), and was given an Order of Merit in 1942. Following the War (1948-53), he was made President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.