Gwen John

Self-Portrait

1902

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In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1890

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Artist: Gwen John 1876–1939
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 448 × 349 mm
frame: 565 × 465 × 65 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1942
Reference: N05366

Display caption

Gwen John trained at the Slade School of Art in London from 1895–1898. As a woman in an industry still largely dominated by men, John had to struggle for recognition. It has been suggested that the intense self-scrutiny of this image and her isolation, reflects her experiences as an artist. In recent years, John’s reputation has grown, and she is widely recognised for her intimate portraits and her subtle use of colour.

Gallery label, February 2019

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Catalogue entry

N05366 SELF-PORTRAIT c. 1899–1900

Inscr. ‘G.M.J.’ b.r.
Canvas, 17 5/8×13 3/4 (45·5×35·5).
Purchased from Miss Ellen Brown (Knapping Fund) 1942.
Coll: Professor Fred Brown; bequeathed to his niece Miss Ellen Brown.
Exh: (?) N.E.A.C., April 1900 (104); N.E.A.C., Retrospective Exhibition, January–February 1925 (65), and Manchester, April–May 1925 (304); Meisterwerke Englischer Malerei aus Drei Jahrhunderten, Secession, Vienna, September–November 1927 (157); Arts Council, Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John, Tate Gallery, May–June 1952 (102).
Lit: John Rothenstein, Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith, 1952, p.163.
Repr: Burlington Magazine, LXXXI, 1942, p.236; John Rothenstein, The Tate Gallery, 1958, p.102.

Said by people who knew the artist to be one of the best likenesses of her; probably painted soon after she left the Slade. It appears in the background of a self-portrait of Professor Fred Brown, dated 1920, now in the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (repr. Artwork, No.23, 1930, p.151).

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, I