Augustus John

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AUGUSTUS JOHN By Richard Shone
With 50 illustrations, including 40 colour plates
There have been innumerable figures in the history of English painting who have started their careers as painters with great gifts, but who have not always fulfilled that early promise. One of the most spectacularly gifted in his youth was Augustus John (1878-1961), who at one point appeared to be leading English painting back into the mainstream of European art. Yet at the present time, in spite of recent attempts to revive it with books and exhibitions, his reputation is low. His lifestyle and appealing character, which dominated a certain section of London's artistic life in the early years of the century, are perhaps better known than his work, although certain of his portraits - of Lawrence of Arabia, Dylan Thomas, Madame Suggia, his young son Robin -continue to be widely reproduced and popular.
The illustrations and text of Richard Shone's book stress the fruitful early period, particularly a... Tovább

Fülszöveg

AUGUSTUS JOHN By Richard Shone
With 50 illustrations, including 40 colour plates
There have been innumerable figures in the history of English painting who have started their careers as painters with great gifts, but who have not always fulfilled that early promise. One of the most spectacularly gifted in his youth was Augustus John (1878-1961), who at one point appeared to be leading English painting back into the mainstream of European art. Yet at the present time, in spite of recent attempts to revive it with books and exhibitions, his reputation is low. His lifestyle and appealing character, which dominated a certain section of London's artistic life in the early years of the century, are perhaps better known than his work, although certain of his portraits - of Lawrence of Arabia, Dylan Thomas, Madame Suggia, his young son Robin -continue to be widely reproduced and popular.
The illustrations and text of Richard Shone's book stress the fruitful early period, particularly a group of small paintings of members of John's family - portrait heads and figures out of doors -executed before the First World War. They are John's main contribution to the modern movement in England and have about them a lyricism and incisiveness of statement which he never surpassed. It would, however, have been a misrepresentation to have concentrated entirely on such works, and a group of later portraits have been included which show that on occasions some of the old inspiration returned. In the early works John has given us a glimpse into the idyllic world he conspicuously failed to realize in his larger compositions, and in some of his portraits - of Yeats and Nicholson, Lewis, Ottoline Morrell and Matthew Smith - he has given us enduring images of remarkable men and women.
Richard Shone's other publications include: Bloomsbury Portraits: Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and their circle; The Century of Change: British Painting since igoo; and Sisley, in the same series as the present book.
Jacket; Caspar (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum)
PHAIDON Vissza