Gwen John (1876-1939)

Gwen John’s work is both instantly recognisable and era-defining. She is known for the quiet strength of the solitary women in her portraits and the reflective stillness of her interiors. But for decades she was overshadowed by her famous brother Augustus and often portrayed as a recluse. This exhibition, curated by art historian, novelist and curator Alicia Foster in partnership with Pallant House Gallery, expels this myth and re-examines the significance of Gwen John’s work alongside her fellow international modernists.

Gwen John defied convention to forge her own, independent existence. She trained at the progressive Slade School of Fine Art, then one of the few art schools that were accepting women on the same terms as men. She chose to make her life and work within the heady art worlds of London and Paris amid a rich cultural circle that included James McNeill Whistler and her lover, Auguste Rodin. This is the story of a progressive trailblazer and of an artist, devoted to her craft and at the forefront of modern art in the early 20th century.

The Exhibition

This is the first major exhibition of the artist Gwen John in 20 years. It will chronologically trace John's 40 year career, placing her art in relation to the two cities where she chose to live and work, bringing together over 120 works including paintings, watercolours, drawings and sketches, and previously unseen archival material and personal belongings. 

The exhibition will begin in the late 1890s starting with her early years at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and subsequent training under James Abbott McNeill Whistler at the Académie Carmen in Paris, to her permanent move to Paris in 1904 and the life she built as an artist there, finishing with her later works produced in the village of Meudon, where she made her home.

The exhibition will include loans from public institutions including Tate, Yale Center for British Art, National Museum of Wales, The British Museum and The Musée Rodin, as well as numerous private collections.

Exhibition Details

Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris
Saturday 13 May - Sunday 8 October

Opening times:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm (Last entry 4pm)
Sunday/Bank Holidays: 11am – 5pm
Mondays: Closed
May Bank Holidays (29 May): 11am-5pm
Pallant House Gallery, 8–9 North Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TJ

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