Augustus John (124 page)
Authors: Michael Holroyd
A
UGUSTUS
J
OHN
: C
HRONOLOGY AND
I
TINERARY
1878 | 4 January, born at Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. |
1884 | August, mother dies. Family move from Haverfordwest to Tenby. |
1894–8 | Slade School of Fine Art, London. |
1897 | Bathing accident. |
1898 | ‘Moses and the Brazen Serpent’ wins the Summer Composition Prize. Visits Holland with Ambrose McEvoy. |
1899 | First one-man show at Carfax Gallery. Makes £30 and goes to Vattetot-sur-Mer with William Rothenstein, William Orpen, Charles Conder. Meets Oscar Wilde in Paris. Begins exhibiting at New English Art Club. |
1900 | Goes to Swanage with Conder. ‘Walpurgis Night’. Visits Le Puy-en-Velay with the Rothensteins and Michel Salaman. Painted by Orpen. |
1901 | 12 January, marries Ida Nettleship. Moves into 18 Fitzroy Street, London. |
1901–2 | Art instructor at Liverpool. Meets John Sampson and the Dowdalls. Etchings. |
1902 | 6 January, David born. |
1903 | Elected to NEAC. |
January, meets Dorothy McNeill in London. March, Carfax Gallery: ‘Paintings [3], Pastels [8], Drawings [21] and Etchings [13] by Augustus E. John’; ‘Paintings [3] by Gwen John’. | |
22 March, Caspar born. | |
August, Gwen and Dorelia’s ‘walk to Rome’, via Toulouse. Augustus and Ida move to Elm House, Matching Green, Essex. | |
1903–7 | Involved with Orpen and Knewstub in Chelsea Art School, Rossetti Studios. |
1904 | Gwen and Dorelia arrive in Paris. Dorelia elopes to Bruges. |
August, Dorelia returns and lives at Elm House. | |
Augustus elected to membership of the Society of Twelve. | |
23 October, Ida’s Robin born. | |
1905 | April–May, on Dartmoor. Dorelia’s Pyramus born. |
September, emigration to rue Monsieur-le-Prince, Paris. | |
November, Chenil Gallery: ‘Drawings by Aug. E. John [42] and William Orpen [22]’. | |
27 November, Ida’s Edwin born. | |
1906 | January, move to 77 rue Dareau, Paris. |
May, Chenil Gallery: Eighty-Two Etchings. First drawings of Alick Schepeler. | |
August, at Ste-Honorine-des-Perthes with Wyndham Lewis. Dorelia’s Romilly born. | |
November, Dorelia detaches herself and moves to 48 rue du Château. | |
1907 | February, Augustus and Ida move to 3 Cour de Rohan. |
9 March, Ida’s Henry born. | |
14 March, Ida dies. | |
Summer at Equihen with Dorelia. | |
September, visits Lady Gregory at Coole, Ireland. Paints W. B. Yeats. Moves to 8 Fitzroy Street, London. | |
November, Carfax Gallery. Eighty-one drawings. | |
1908 | Gets to know Lady Ottoline Morrell. Starts off for Spain, via Paris. |
July–September, at Dielette with Dorelia and children. Visited by Mrs Nettleship. | |
Autumn, moves into 153 Church Street with Dorelia and families. | |
1909 | January, paints William Nicholson. Takes studio at 181a King’s Road. |
July, caravans to Cambridge. Paints Jane Harrison. August, paints ‘His Worship the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and Smith’. | |
Meets John Quinn in London. | |
September, agrees to decorate Hugh Lane’s house. | |
1910 | January–September, travels, at Quinn’s expense, to Italy and Provence. Visits Frank Harris at Nice. |
April, Villa Ste-Anne, Martigues. | |
October, ‘The Smiling Woman’ becomes the first purchase of the Contemporary Art Society (£225) and is later (1917) given to the Tate Gallery. | |
November–December, Chenil Gallery: ‘Provençal Studies [48] and Other Works [35 drawings]’. Begins working with J. D. Innes. | |
1911 | Elected to the Camden Town Group. |
May, rents cottage with Innes in North Wales. | |
July, paints Kuno Meyer in Liverpool. | |
August, moves to Alderney Manor. | |
September, in France with Quinn. | |
October, in Wales. | |
December, Chenil Gallery: Paintings, Drawings and Etchings. | |
1912 | March, Pyramus dies. Poppet is born. |
Summer, west coast of Ireland with Francis Macnamara and Oliver St John Gogarty. | |
September, stays at Chirk Castle with the Howard de Waldens. | |
1913 | January, in South of France with Innes. |
February, Armory Show, New York (23 paintings, 14 drawings). | |
Spring, Madam Strindberg’s cabaret club opens. | |
July, North Wales with Holbrooke and Sime. | |
August, visits Modigliani in Paris. | |
September, North Wales. | |
November, Goupil Gallery: Fifteen Panels. | |
1914 | February, elected President of the National Portrait Society. In Cornwall with Laura Knight and others. |
April, Crab Tree Club opens. | |
May, Cardiganshire. Gives up studio at 181a King’s Road, moves into 28 Mallord Street. | |
June, one week in Boulogne. | |
August, Eilean Shona, Archarcle, Argyllshire. Last visits to Innes at Brighton and Swanley in Kent before his death. | |
October–November, drilling with Wadsworth in the courtyard of the Royal Academy. | |
December, sees Gwen John in Paris. Fails to persuade her to return to England. | |
1915 | March, Vivien born. |
May, Hugh Lane drowned in | |
June, at Coole. Paints three portraits of Bernard Shaw. | |
October, Aran Islands and Galway. | |
1916 | February, Chenil Gallery: Paintings (21) and Drawings (41). Portrait of Lloyd George. |
May, Chenil Gallery: ‘Etchings by Augustus E. John’. | |
July, goes to Herbert Barker for knee operation. | |
August, rejected for military service. ‘Galway’ shown at Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Burlington House. | |
Starts experiments in lithography. Bust by Jacob Epstein. | |
1917 | 20 March, Monster Matinée at Chelsea Palace Theatre. |
27 April, meets Lady Cynthia Asquith. | |
August, portrait of Oliver St John Gogarty. | |
9 October, begins portrait of Lady Cynthia Asquith (‘Lady in Black’). | |
November–February (1918), Alpine Club: pictures and decorations (67 exhibits). | |
December, advances to Aubigny as a Canadian Army major. | |
1918 | March, retires from France after knocking out Captain Wright. |
May, starts Canadian cartoon (National Gallery of Canada) and ‘Fraternity’ (Imperial War Museum, London). | |
8–28 August, represented at ‘Englische Moderne Malerei’, an exhibition organized by the Contemporary Arts Society at the Kunsthaus, Zürich. | |
1919 | February–May, in Paris as official war artist. Paints Marchesa Casati and Duchess of Gramont. First drawing of T. E. Lawrence. |
March, Chenil Gallery: 125 etchings. | |
September, at Deauville with Lloyd George. | |
1920 | Augustus John |
March, Alpine Club: War, Peace Conference and Other Portraits (39 exhibits). | |
April, Sister Carline Hospital. Operation on nose. | |
May, Rouen and Dieppe. | |
October, rumpus over Lord Leverhulme’s decapitated portrait. | |
Campbell Dodgson’s | |
1921 | 22 April, elected Associate of the Royal Academy. Begins painting of Mme Suggia. |
June, portrait of Herbert Barker. | |
1922 | March, the Sculptors’ Gallery, New York: works by Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Innes, Augustus John and Wyndham Lewis from Quinn Collection (7 paintings, 7 drawings). |
April, Paris. | |
May, arrives in Spain. | |
1923 | March, Alpine Club Gallery: Paintings and Drawings. First showing of ‘Mme Suggia’. |
28 March–23 June, United States. | |
June, Beaux Arts Gallery: paintings (29). | |
Augustus John | |
21 September, meets Thomas Hardy at Kingston Maurward. | |
October, completes portrait of Hardy at Max Gate. | |
1924 | ‘Mme Suggia’ wins first prize at International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. |
April–June, United States. | |
July, in Dublin for Taillteann Games. Stays with Lord Dunsany. | |
September-October, Paris. | |
1925 | February, Lord Duveen gives ‘Mme Suggia’ to the Tate Gallery. |
March–April, in Berlin. Paints Gustav Stresemann and Lali Horstmann. | |
May–June, Ischia with T. W. Earp. | |
Italy. Starts flower painting. | |
1926 | February–March, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, United States: drawings. |
February–April, France. | |
April, Elected member of Royal Society of Portrait Painters. | |
May, New Chenil Gallery: Paintings (47) and Drawings (35); Gwen John, paintings (44) and 4 albums of drawings. | |
17 June, begins portrait of Hugh Walpole. | |
9 July, ‘Art and the Public’, BBC talk. Meets and paints Sean O’Casey. | |
October, walks from Avignon to Marseilles with Horace de Vere Cole and A. R. Thomson. | |
December (till February 1927), at Villa Ste-Anne. | |
1927 | Begins portrait of Lord D’Abernon. |
March, moves from Alderney Manor to Fryern Court. | |
June–July, at Château de Missery. | |
July, helps Gwen John buy Yew Tree Cottage, Burgate Cross, Fordingbridge. | |
December (till January 1928), South of France. | |
1928 | 14 January–4 February, Anderson Gallery, New York: Paintings and Drawings. |
April, Villa Ste-Anne sold. | |
August–December, in United States. Portrait of Governor Fuller. | |
5 December, elected Royal Academician. | |
1929 | February, at Cap Ferrat with James Dunn. |
4 April–17 May, Tooth’s Gallery: Recent Paintings (27). | |
May–June, designs sets for Act II of Sean O’Casey’s | |
July, Château de Missery. | |
September, Rheims. | |
October, paints T. E. Lawrence at Fryern Court. | |
November, drawing of Frederick Delius. | |
December, designs Noah’s Ark for Chelsea Arts Club Ball at Albert Hall. | |
1930 | Contributes reminiscences to Ifan Kyrle Fletcher’s |
April, Harlow, McDonald & Co, New York: Etchings and Drawings. | |
1 April, begins portrait of Montagu Norman. | |
April–May, in hospital, Preston Deanery Hall, Northampton. | |
July–September, Ireland. Portraits of W. B. Yeats and Brenda Gogarty. | |
October, Kiddalton Castle, Port Ellen, Isle of Islay. In Amsterdam with Dorelia. | |
November, Paris, James Joyce drawings. | |
December (till February 1931), Cap Ferrat. | |
1931 | 21 November, funeral of John Sampson who bequeaths John under Clause 8 of his will, ‘my Smith and Wesson Revolver No. 239892’. |
1932 | February–March, in Jersey with Sir Herbert Barker. More attention to knee. Lord D’Abernon’s portrait signed. |
May, portraits of Joe Hone and T. W. Earp. | |
June, represented at XVIII Biennial International Art Exhibition, Venice. | |
July, France. | |
August, Cornwall. Romilly John’s | |
December, Majorca. | |
Death of Mrs Nettleship. |