Augustus John (1878 - 1961 ) - Portraits
Flamboyant bohemian artist Augustus Edwin John was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire in January 1878.
The younger son and third of four children in the John family, Augustus attended the Slade School of Art in London in 1894 (until 1899), and was joined there a year later by his older sister Gwen. The pair shared lodgings during their time at the school.
In 1897 Augustus suffered a serious head injury whilst diving into the sea that affected a change in his character, and critics have argued, resulted in the stimulation of his artistic growth. In 1898 he won the Slade Summer Composition prize with Moses and the Brazen Serpent, and after his graduation from the school he studied in France.
Early in 1900 Augustus married Ida Nettleship and they had five children together. Ida died tragically young aged just 30 in 1907 and he soon after married long time mistress Dorothy 'Dorelia' McNeill.
Augustus enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle, and was deeply influenced by the Romany tradition, lifestyle and language; he spent time travelling with gypsy caravans in Wales, Dorset and Ireland.
Augustus first visited Paris in 1900, and began exhibiting at the New English Art Club in the same year. He became a member of the NEAC in 1903 and staged his first one-man exhibition at the Carfax Gallery that year. Augustus was also an art instructor at the art school affiliated to the University College at the turn of the century.
In August 1911, John, Dorelia and children moved to Alderney Manor in Dorset and turned it into a bohemian commune, in which guests would stay in gypsy caravans parked in the grounds for often lengthy periods. Augustus continued in this promiscuous lifestyle, entertaining numerous affairs and expanding his celebrity circle of friends.
In 1911 he also stayed near the Arenig mountain range in southern Snowdonia with his friend and fellow artist JD Innes.
At the outbreak of World War One Augustus, by now a well-known British artist, gained a commission in the Canadian Army as a war artist with the help of his friend Lord Beaverbrook. However, the latter had to intervene as after spending two months in France the artist was involved in a brawl with a fellow officer and sent home in disgrace.
Though well known and celebrated in the earlier part of his career for his brilliant figure drawings and oil sketching, by the 1920s Augustus was the leading society portrait artist in Britain. Noteworthy figures such as Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, T E Lawrence, James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, W B Yeats, David Lloyd George, Ramsay MacDonald and Winston Churchill all had their portraits painted by John.
Augustus had become one of the most famous British artists of the day, his talent compared to Michelangelo, Gauguin and Matisse.
In 1927 the John clan moved to Fryern Court, Fordingbridge, which became a kind of open house for travelling artists. In his later life and as his artistic career entered its twilight phase, Augustus became increasingly interested in politics, supporting the National Campaign for the Abolition of Capital Punishment and pushing government officials on the topic of travellers' rights.
Later, John helped to form the Artists International Association in response to the growth of fascism across Europe. And in wartime, along with the likes of Benjamin Britten, E. M. Forster and George Orwell, sponsored the Freedom Defence Committee. Augustus received the Order of Merit in June 1942.
Augustus John lived out the last years of his life with Dorelia in Dorset, having travelled widely in his lifetime in Europe, America and Jamaica. The King of Bohemia died in 1961 at the age of 83.
Places to see in ( Fordingbridge - UK )
Places to see in ( Fordingbridge - UK )
Fordingbridge is a town and civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near to the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is 81 miles (130 km) southwest of London, and 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Salisbury. Fordingbridge is a former market town. The Avon Valley Path passes through the town.
Fordingbridge is a town and civil parish in Hampshire on the banks of the River Avon. The first Great Bridge, from which the town received its present name, was built in mediaeval times, and is upstream from the ford. The bridge is a major feature of the town with its seven graceful arches, which can be seen very easily from the town's large riverside park where one can walk along the riverbank draped with willows and waterside plants. Close by is a children's play area, secluded memorial gardens, parks and sports playing fields. A bronze statue of the painter Augustus John stands on the banks of the Avon near the Great Bridge.
Not far from the High Street is the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin which has some typical Norman characteristics. Lands in Fordingbridge and the advowson of the church were granted to King's College, Cambridge in 1447 by Henry VI, after being given to the Crown by Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham.
The Fordingbridge Museum, which houses local history exhibits, and the Visitor Information Centre are located in King's Yard. There is also a Roman villa in the nearby village of Rockbourne, which is open to visitors during the summer. The local comprehensive school is The Burgate School And Sixth Form Centre, which is situated in Burgate, a small hamlet to the north of the town. Fordingbridge Hospital is a small community hospital on the site of a Victorian workhouse. Most of the old buildings remain but the inpatient ward is a more recent addition. The town's medical centre is on the same site in Bartons Road
Since 1982 Fordingbridge has been twinned with Vimoutiers in Normandy. Fordingbridge is also home to Fordingbridge Turks FC, one of the 50 oldest football clubs in England, established circa 1868. The Turks name seems to derive from wishing to emulate the determination shown by Ottoman forces at Siege of Plevna. The recreation ground is also home to Fordingbridge Rugby Club, who have been one of the more successful Hampshire clubs in recent years.
The parish of Fordingbridge contains the hamlets of Burgate to the north, Criddlestyle to the east, Bickton to the south, and Ashford to the west. Burgate and Bickton are settlements dating back to the time of the Domesday Book, and in fact Bickton was a larger settlement than Fordingbridge in 1086. Criddlestyle is an ancient manor, also known as East Mill, with a history dating back to the 14th century. The largest hamlet today is Ashford, which was the location of an ancient watermill, and was the location of Fordingbridge railway station until it was closed in 1964.
The first bridge at Fordingbridge was built before 1252, when the bailiff and men of the town received a grant of pontage for one year towards its repairs. A custom which survived until 1840 obliged the lord of Fordingbridge during one summer month known as fence month to keep the bridge guarded and arrest anyone found taking venison from the New Forest.
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