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Chiaroscuro
Autobiography of the English artist, brother of Gwen John
- GenresAutobiography
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
29 people want to read
About the author
Augustus John
42 books1 followerAugustus Edwin John OM RA (January 04, 1878 - October 31, 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher.
For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain. He was the younger brother of the painter Gwen John.
For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain. He was the younger brother of the painter Gwen John.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2018
John, Augustus. Chiaroscuro
Augustus John, a once much-loved artist here plunges into talking about his life and the many people he has known, mainly through his portrait painting. He turns out to be an engaging host, who seems to have known everyone and whenever possible puts his impressions on to canvas. From his Welsh childhood on John was fascinated by the gypsies, ‘aloof, arrogant, and in their ragged finery somehow superior to the common run of natives.’ As a growing boy he would accompany his sister, Gwen (also a notable artist) to watch with fascination the process of total immersion, as practised by the local Baptists. Unlike his father, John has a very gregarious nature. Partly though his art training at the Slade he manages to collect famous people, most of whom he names in his memoir. Whistler, Yeats, Rossetti, Ellen Terry, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Will Rothenstein, Max Beerbohm, Sickert, the names tumble out of his collection. He tells us of his contemporaries, ‘highly talented and ornamental girls’ at the Slade: Ursula Tyrwhitt, Edna Waugh, Gwen Salmond and Ida Nettleship ‘who had been a friend of Browning and had written a book about him.’ Social climbing and name-dropping, following the famous and yet at the same time an admirer of gypsies, foreigners and the dispossessed, makes a rich mix in the socio-genetic soup.
Perhaps John’s encounter with James Joyce is the only lasting prose portrait by which Augustus John is recalled today. The book contains a photograph of the pair standing stiffly, John’s arm threaded through Joyce’s, who stands hands in pockets adjacent. John gives a very sympathetic picture of Joyce, as a loner, under the care of his wife Norah: ‘He had a precise and buttoned up appearance, but would unstiffen perceptibly during the course of dinner. Mrs Joyce, a Galway woman, had to call him to order sometimes. In her opinion the beneficent effect of the wine could be too marked. I didn’t agree.’ On parting for the night Joyce gives John a French translation of Ulysses,and John responds, typically, by embracing the famous author.
Augustus John, a once much-loved artist here plunges into talking about his life and the many people he has known, mainly through his portrait painting. He turns out to be an engaging host, who seems to have known everyone and whenever possible puts his impressions on to canvas. From his Welsh childhood on John was fascinated by the gypsies, ‘aloof, arrogant, and in their ragged finery somehow superior to the common run of natives.’ As a growing boy he would accompany his sister, Gwen (also a notable artist) to watch with fascination the process of total immersion, as practised by the local Baptists. Unlike his father, John has a very gregarious nature. Partly though his art training at the Slade he manages to collect famous people, most of whom he names in his memoir. Whistler, Yeats, Rossetti, Ellen Terry, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Will Rothenstein, Max Beerbohm, Sickert, the names tumble out of his collection. He tells us of his contemporaries, ‘highly talented and ornamental girls’ at the Slade: Ursula Tyrwhitt, Edna Waugh, Gwen Salmond and Ida Nettleship ‘who had been a friend of Browning and had written a book about him.’ Social climbing and name-dropping, following the famous and yet at the same time an admirer of gypsies, foreigners and the dispossessed, makes a rich mix in the socio-genetic soup.
Perhaps John’s encounter with James Joyce is the only lasting prose portrait by which Augustus John is recalled today. The book contains a photograph of the pair standing stiffly, John’s arm threaded through Joyce’s, who stands hands in pockets adjacent. John gives a very sympathetic picture of Joyce, as a loner, under the care of his wife Norah: ‘He had a precise and buttoned up appearance, but would unstiffen perceptibly during the course of dinner. Mrs Joyce, a Galway woman, had to call him to order sometimes. In her opinion the beneficent effect of the wine could be too marked. I didn’t agree.’ On parting for the night Joyce gives John a French translation of Ulysses,and John responds, typically, by embracing the famous author.
March 3, 2016
A riotous tale full of mischief and keen observations, as well as encounters with intriguing contemporaries such as his sister Gwen, T E Lawrence, and with Gypsy-Traveller people in Britain and continental Europe. Worth tracking down!
maybe
May 26, 2019
Anecdotes on Evan Morgan by his contemporaries..
“Chiaroscuro" " Fragments of Autobiography” by Augustus John
1st Edition 1952
Jonathan Cape
.....or find them in the books on Evan @WilliamPCross
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews