Augustus John

Augustus Edwin John was a painter of portraits, figure compositions, landscapes and flowers. He was also a draughtsman, etcher and lithographer. John was born on January 4, 1878 in Tenby, Wales. He was the brother of the painter Gwen John. He studied at the Slade School of Art in 1894, won a Scholarship in 1896 and the Summer Composition Prize in 1898. John first visited Paris in 1900 and later traveled to Holland, Belgium and France. He was influenced by Rembrandt, El Greco and the Post-Impressionists. He began exhibiting at the New English Art Club in 1900 and became a member in 1903. He became a professor of painting at Liverpool University in 1901. He had his first one-man exhibition at the Carfax Gallery in 1903. John painted in Ireland, Dorset and Wales, where he camped with gypsies and worked with Innes and Derwent Lees in 1911. He has exhibited at the Chenil Galleries and Alpine Club Gallery.  In 1921, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and elected a full R.A. in 1928. He was a member of the London Group in 1940. Augustus John was awarded the Order of Merit in 1942. He has traveled widely throughout Europe and paid several visits to the USA and Jamaica. He used to live in Dorset, London and later on in Hampshire. He has conducted several retrospective exhibitions of his drawings at the National Gallery in 1940, at Temple Newsam, Leeds in 1946, National Eisteddfod of Wales and Welsh and English tour in 1948. In later life, John wrote two volumes of autobiography, Chiaroscuro in 1952 and Finishing Touches in 1964. He died at his home at Fordingbridge, Hampshire on October 31, 1961.