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Augustus John

Page 110

by Michael Holroyd


  65 See Cecily Langdale Gwen John (1987), p. 130 n. 11.

  66 Gwen John to Ursula Tyrwhitt, 17 July 1930. NLW MS 21468D fol. 176.

  67 Cecily Langdale Gwen John p. 130 n. 1.

  68 Augustus to Edwin John n.d. (1 January 1940). NLW MS 22312C fol. 19.

  69 Augustus to Edwin John n.d. (1 May 1940). NLW MS 22312C fols. 28–9.

  70 Augustus to Edwin John, 22 January 1942. NLW MS 22312C fol. 49.

  71 Augustus to Edwin John, 5 July 1944. NLW MS 22312C fol. 52.

  72 Augustus to Edwin John, 22 August 1944. NLW MS 22312C fol. 53.

  73 Augustus to Edwin John, 4 March 1946. NLW MS 22312C fol. 57.

  74 Augustus to Edwin John, 11 September 1946. NLW MS 22312C fol. 62. Edwin John was then living in the village of Mousehole, Cornwall.

  75 Augustus to Edwin John, 30 November 1946. NLW MS 22312C fol. 65.

  76 Edwin John to Augustus, 24 December 1951. NLW MS 22782D fols. 20–1.

  77 See NLW MS 22782D fols. 18–25, 22312C fols. 27–77.

  78 Winifred Shute to Augustus John, 3 March 1956. NLW MS 22782D fol. 125.

  79 Instead of a memoir Augustus reworked his Matthiesen catalogue essay as an article in Horizon Volume XIX No. 112 (April 1949), pp. 295–303, and this, with some revisions, appeared in Chiaroscuro pp. 247–56; later his Burlington Magazine contribution (Volume LXXXI No. 475 [October 1942]) was reprinted in Finishing Touches pp. 79–81.

  80 Finishing Touches p. 81.

  81 John to Pamela Grove, 25 February 1945.

  82 John to Sylvia Hay, 5 June 1959.

  83 Marie Mauron to the author, 1969.

  84 Chiaroscuro p. 261. See also Horizon Volume XVII No. 102 (June 1948), p. 438.

  85 Chiaroscuro p. 262.

  86 Horizon Volume XVII No. 102 (June 1948), p. 440. In a letter to Matthew Smith (5 December 1946) he wrote: ‘I thought the country as good as ever but didn’t do anything with it.’

  87 William Empson to the author, 6 December 1968. See also Hugh Gordon Proteus Listener (3 December 1964), pp. 902–3.

  88 John to Cyril Connolly, 5 November 1949. McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa.

  89 Chiaroscuro p. 264.

  90 John to T. W Earp, 20 March 1947.

  91 Augustus to Edwin John, 29 November 1947. NLW MS 22312C fol. 72.

  92 Augustus to David John, 22 June 1942.

  93 Socialist Leader (18 September 1948). See also The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4 In Front of Your Nose 1945–50 (1970 edn), pp. 595–6.

  94 There were only two issues of the Delphic Review, Winter 1949 and Spring 1950. John’s article ‘Frontiers’ occupies pages 6–11 of the first issue.

  95 John to Bertrand Russell, 6 February 1961. ‘Very disappointed,’ he had cabled Russell. ‘Had looked forward to jail.’ See Caroline Moorehead Bertrand Russell (1992), p. 509.

  96 The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell Volume III 1944–67 (1969), p. 118. See also p. 146.

  97 ‘The Great Bohemian’, Time and Tide (9 November 1961).

  98 Breon O’Casey to the author, 7 September 1969.

  99 Nicolette Devas Two Flamboyant Fathers (1966), p. 277.

  100 Stephen Spender Journals 1939–1983 (ed. John Goldsmith 1985), 1 July 1955, p. 157·

  101 John to Sylvia Hay, 7 September 1956. In the collection of Professor Norman H. Pearson, Yale University, New Haven.

  102 John to Cyril Clemens, December 1955.

  103 John to Sylvia Hay, 7 January 1959.

  104 John to Hope Scott, 3 October 1950.

  105 John Rothenstein Time’s Thievish Progress (1970), pp. 24–5.

  106 Diana Mosley A Life of Contrasts (1977), p. 89.

  107 Harlech Television, 18 July 1968.

  108 John to Alan Moorehead, 31 March 1952.

  109 John to John Davenport, 11 March 1956.

  110 John to Joe Hone, 4 February 1956.

  111 John to D. S. MacColl n.d.

  112 John to Kelly, 23 July 1952, 20 May 1952, 2 July 1952, 15 March 1952; Kelly to Earp, 20 January 1954; John to Kelly, 30 September 1953; Kelly to Earp n.d. (1954); Hugo Pitman to Kelly, 12 August 1952. Royal Academy.

  113 Sunday Times (14 March 1954).

  114 Kelly to John, 10 February 1954; Kelly to Lady John Hope (Liza Maugham), 2 June 1954; Kelly to John, 28–9 June 1954; Kelly to John, 1 April 1954. Royal Academy.

  115 Dorelia to Kelly n.d. (March 1954). Royal Academy.

  116 John to Kelly, 16 March 1954. Royal Academy.

  117 The Times (13 March 1954).

  118 John to Hugo Pitman, 27 December 1952.

  119 John to Hugo Pitman, 10 November 1954.

  120 John to Dorothy Head, 16 November 1954.

  121 John to Mrs W. M. Cazalet, 16 June 1941.

  122 Augustus to Simon John, 14 September 1944.

  123 John to Michael Ayrton, February 1961.

  124 Augustus to Caspar John, 7 January 1955.

  125 Best of Friends. The Brenan–Partridge Letters (ed. Xan Fielding 1986), p. 209.

  126 Augustus to Edwin John n.d.

  127 Gerald Brenan A Personal Record (1974), p. 356.

  128 Augustus to Caspar John, 7 January 1955.

  129 John to Clare Crossley, 12 January 1955.

  130 John to Sylvia Hay n.d.

  131 John to Matthew Smith, 22 December 1948.

  132 John to Count William de Belleroche, 5 September 1956.

  133 John to Matthew Smith, 5 September 1956.

  134 John to Matthew Smith, 24 December 1953. In a letter to Caspar John of about the same date (NLW MS 22775C fol. 10) John wrote: ‘I have been much distressed by the death of Dylan Thomas and have managed to write a note about it for a paper called Adam in an edition wholly devoted to the Poet.’ John’s essay, ‘The Monogamous Bohemian’, appeared in the January 1954 issue of Adam Literary Magazine, and was reprinted in E. W. Tedlock’s Dylan Thomas – the legend and the poet (1960). Another essay by John, originally appearing in the Sunday Times (28 September 1958), was reprinted in J. M. Brinnin’s A Casebook on Dylan Thomas (1960), and in Finishing Touches pp. 108–15.

  135 John to Count William de Belleroche, 21 June 1956.

  136 William Gaunt to the author, 16 October 1971.

  137 One of Matthew Smith’s portraits of John is at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art; another at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; and the third, which was sold at Sotheby’s on 13 May 1987, is privately owned. John’s portrait of Matthew Smith is in the Tate Gallery.

  138 Peter Quennell ‘Augustus John’ Harper’s Bazaar (February 1952), p. 45. Photographs by Cartier-Bresson.

  139 Lucy Norton to the author, 1973.

  140 John to Matthew Smith, 1 July 1959.

  141 BBC Panorama, 4 November 1957.

  142 Sunday Times (18 January 1953).

  143 John to Eric Phillips, 9 December 1952.

  144 John to Joe Hone, 9 February 1956. It was purchased by a number of subscribers, headed by Hugo Pitman and Lennox Robinson, and unveiled at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in November 1955.

  145 John to Mary Anna Marten, 31 January 1953.

  146 John Rothenstein Time’s Thievish Progress p. 15.

  147 John to Joe Hone, 9 February 1956. See also Tenby Observer and County News (15 October 1954).

  148 Bernard Shaw. Collected Letters Volume 4 (ed. Dan H. Laurence 1988), p. 794.

  149 Letters of John Cowper Powys to Louis Wilkinson 1935–1956 (1958), p. 336–7, 8 December 1955. The drawing is reproduced as frontispiece to this volume. Powys reckoned John to be ‘one of the 3 great men I’ve met in my life’, the other two being Thomas Hardy and Charles Chaplin. He was particularly pleased that John had also done a portrait of his brother T. F. Powys (1933). ‘So two of the Brothers Powys will be seen by the next and the next generations as the great artist saw them,’ he wrote to G. Wilson Knight (14 July 1958).

  150 Thornton John to Augustus, 25 June 1959. NLW MS 22782D fols. 119–20.

  151
Augustus John to Winifred Shute, November 1959.

  152 John to John Davenport n.d. NLW MS 21585E.

  153 Augustus to Caspar John, 6 May 1960. NLW MS 22775C fols. 41–2.

  154 Tenby Observer and County News (30 October 1959).

  155 John to Tristan de Vere Cole, 5 February 1956.

  156 Maurice Collis: Diaries 1949–1969 (ed. Louise Collis 1977), p. 55, 9 September 1953. ‘His face was very expressive, like an actor’s. He had very great charm. Affection, intimacy, indignation, sadness flitted across his features. There was emotion of some kind showing all the time… not intellectual, not kind, not even very intuitive or sympathetic for others but human and greatly experienced in life. One sees very few Englishmen with such faces in the upper classes, but tramps, beggars and poets (old style) sometimes have that look.’

  157 John to Sir Charles Wheeler, 11 April 1960.

  158 Roderic Owen with Tristan de Vere Cole Beautiful and Beloved (1974), p. 225.

  159 Fergus Fleming Amaryllis Fleming (1993), pp. 150–1. See also pp. 179–81, 199. Eve Fleming did not in fact marry Lord Winchester, who remained married to Bapsy Pavry. ‘When I saw the announcement in the Times I received quite a shock,’ John had written to her (23 July 1953). ‘…As the Marquess remarked to some journalist it was quick work on his part.’ NLW 21622D.

  160 John to Daniel George, 28 September 1952.

  161 John to Alfred Hayward, 13 June 1952.

  162 John to Doris Phillips, 9 December 1952.

  163 Augustus to Edwin John, 30 May 1954.

  164 Charles Wheeler High Relief (1968), p. 116.

  165 Augustus to Edwin John, 1 December 1960.

  166 Charles Wheeler High Relief p. 116.

  167 John to Sir Philip Dunn, 11 February 1960.

  168 John to Sir Charles Wheeler, 8 March 1960.

  169 Now in the Royal Academy Library.

  170 John to Sir Charles Wheeler, 4 March 1961.

  171 John to Cecil Beaton n.d.

  172 David John to Robin John, 20 November 1971.

  173 Sven Berlin Dromengro: Man of the Road (1971), pp. 196–7.

  174 Richard Hughes ‘Last Words from Augustus’ Sunday Telegraph (5 November 1961).

  175 Anthony Powell ‘The Great Bohemian’ Time and Tide (9 November 1961).

  176 Osbert Lancaster ‘Last of the Great Unbeats’ Daily Express (1 November 1961).

  177 Daily Telegraph (1 November 1961), p. 12.

  178 Tooth’s Gallery, 15–30 March, ‘Paintings and Drawings not previously exhibited’. Christie’s, First Studio Sale, 20 July 1962 (115 drawings, 70 paintings) £99,645 (equivalent to £1,200,000 in 1996). Christie’s, Second Studio Sale, 21 June 1963 (103 drawings, 62 paintings) £33,405 (equivalent to £391,200 in 1996). Both studio sales were held primarily to pay off death duties, John’s estate having been valued at approximately £90,000 (equivalent to £1,119,000 in 1996).

  INDEX

  Abbey Memorial Trust 597–8

  Aberconway, Christabel: AJ to 505, 508

  Académie Carmen, Paris 71–2

  Académie Julian, Paris 71

  Ackerley, J. R. 569

  Aimard, Gustave 15

  Aitken, Sir Max see Beaverbrook, Lord

  Aix-en-Provence, France 320–1, 589

  Albany Street, London (No. 61), 81, 85

  Alderney Manor, Dorset 359–60, 361, 365–71, 372, 380–1, 416–17, 459, 496

  Alexander, Hubert 637 (n. 71); AJ to 565

  Alexander, Muriel 128

  Alington, Lord 454, 455, 510, 593

  Allen, Charles 114

  Allied Artists’ Association 240, 330, 347–8

  Allinson, Adrian: painting of Café Royal 120

  Alpine Club, Mill Street, London 425, 430, 442, 463

  Amiens, France 432

  Anderson Gallery, New York 493

  Anquetin, Louis 193, 342

  Anrep, Boris 315, 357; Mallord St mosaic 399, 497

  Anrep, Helen see Fry, Helen

  Apollinaire, Guillaume 207

  Aran Islands 392–3

  Arden, Elizabeth 539

  Arles, France 308, 309, 315

  Armory Show (1913) 334, 488

  Arnold, Matthew 322

  Arthur (a groom) 284, 287, 293

  Artists’ International Association 560

  Ashley, Edith 376

  Ashley-Cooper, Dorothea 510

  Ashley-Cooper, Lettice 510

  Ashwell, Lena: Concerts at the Front 422

  Asquith, Lady Cynthia: her impression of AJ’s; ‘Pageant of War’ 435; responds to AJ’s; admiration 439

  Augustus John to 27, 431, 434, 441, 442, 443, 475

  Asquith, Herbert (son of H. H. Asquith) 419

  Asquith, Herbert Henry, Prime Minister 408, 507

  Asquith, Margot 428

  Astz, Count von 83

  Athenaeum 94, 173, 292

  Athlone, Earl of 467

  Aubigny, France 431, 434

  Avignon, France 307, 315

  Ayrton, Michael 466, 562, 563

  Bach, John 424

  Bagenal, Barbara (née Hiles) 422, 612

  Bakst, Léon 454

  Balfour, A. J.: slumbers while AJ paints 409–10; and at Paris Peace Conference 441

  Balla, Giacomo 343

  Balzac, Honoré de 75, 145, 148, 262, 258; Vie conjugale 87

  Bankhead, Tallulah 469–70; AJ’s portrait 470

  Barbizon School 91

  Barker, Harley Granville 361

  Barker, Herbert 424; AJ to 557, 588

  Barrie, J. M. 454; The Boy David 519–21

  Barry, James 509

  Barry, Philip: The Philadelphia Story 511

  Bastien-Lepage, Jules 91, 92

  Baudelaire, Charles 145, 202, 207, 295, 345

  Baumer, Lewis 457

  Bayeux, Normandy 216, 274, 496

  Bazin, Albert 317–18, 397, 482

  Beardsley, Aubrey xxii, 36, 66, 93

  Beaton, Cecil 473, 498, 500; AJ’s portrait 598;

  Augustus John to 456, 596

  Beaverbrook, Lord (Max Aitken): on AJ’s Alpine Club exhibition 426; starts Canadian War Memorials Fund 430; entertains his Canadians in Paris 433; saves AJ from court-martial 434; on Sir James Dunn’s quarrels with AJ 511; still asking after AJ’s Canadian picture 40 years later 436

  Bedford, Stella Maris see Conder, Stella

  Beecham, Thomas: AJ’s portrait 593

  Beerbohm, Florence 89; Max Beerbohm to 332

  Beerbohm, Max: on AJ at Nettleships’ 66; amusing; at a distance 121; and William Rothenstein 171, 172; exhibitions 75, 332; attitude to AJ 332, 533; caricature of AJ 436; mentioned 321

  Rutherston to 112

  Belfont, Mary 37

  Belgium: Dorelia and Leonard in 151, 159; AJ in 158–9

  Bell, Clive: in Paris 248; speechless admiration at ‘The Childhood of Pyramus’ 262, 330; as expert on Post-Impressionism 331; his invitation to AJ to exhibit at Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition turned down 348, 351; critical of AJ’s work xxxii, 330, 514, 515; mentioned 268, 350

  Walter Lamb to 248

  Bell, Quentin 340, 569; Victorian Artists 94

  Bell, Vanessa: finds Euphemia Lamb’s scattiness extreme 248; approves ‘The Childhood of Pyramus’ 262, 330; on ‘Manet and the Post-Impressionists’ 327, 328; thinks AJ’s painting sentimental 330; mentioned 268, 517, 521

  Virginia Woolf to 480

  Belleroche, William de 589; AJ to 590, 595

  Benn, Anthony Wedgwood 564–5

  Bennett, Arnold 84

  Bentinck, Lord Henry 262

  Berdyaev, Nicholai 572

  Berengaria 492

  Berensburg, Monsieur de 13

  Bergne, Villiers (Poppet’s husband) 537, 540; AJ to 540

  Berlin, AJ in 485, 486

  Berlin, Sven 560fn, 600

  Bernard, Émile 344

  Berners, Lord 454

  Bertorelli’s, London 418

  Bevan, Robert 330, 348

 
Bibesco, Princess: describes AJ 213

  Binyon, Laurence 339–40; criticism of AJ’s work 107, 330; ‘Rubens, Delacroix and Mr John’ 333

  Birch, John 400

  Birkbeck, Chiquita 458–60

  Birkbeck, Michael 460

  Birley, Oswald 514

  Birrell, Augustine 479, 483

  Blaker, Hugh 328, 669 (n. 56)

  Blanche, Jacques-Émile 248

  Blast 516

  Bloch, Frieda 209, 210, 215, 218, 219, 528

  Bloomsbury Group xiii-xiv, 248–9, 262, 264, 268, 479

  Bloy, Léon 319

  Blunt, Anthony: criticism of AJ’s work xxxii, 515

  Blunt, Wilfrid 328, 334

  Boer War 84, 96, 113

  Boldini, Giovanni 455

  Bomberg, David 343, 401, 427

  Bone, James: ‘The Tendencies of Modern Art’ 329–30

  Bone, Muirhead 173, 174, 258

  Bonnard, Pierre 292, 344–5

  Bonnier, Charles 99

  Booth, Viva, AJ to 483

  Borrow, George xxix, 101–2, 145, 281

  Boswell, Dorelia 127

  Botticelli, Sandro: ‘Primavera’ 312

  Bottomley, Gordon 282

  Boudin, Eugène 500

  Boughton-Leigh, Chloë: Gwen John portrait 258

  Bouguereau, William 35

  Bowser, Isabel 550–1

  Boy’s Own Paper 61

  Bramley, Frank 91

  Brangwyn, Frank 590; AJ portrait 593

  Brenan, Gerald 385, 538, 588, 589; Partridge to 535; A Life of One’s Own 365, 368, 384

  Brett, the Hon. Dorothy 420–1, 422, 432

  Brett, the Hon. Sylvia 612

  Brighton Evening News 10

  British Library xxix

  British Medical Association: Epstein’s statues 203–4

  British Museum 36, 56, 200, 417

  Britten, Benjamin 576, 640 (n. 33)

  Broad Haven, Wales 6, 11

  Brooke, Humphrey 599

  Brooke, Rupert 282, 286, 528

  Brooke Bond tea card (Famous People No. 31) 43

  Brooks, Romaine 353

  ‘Brotherhood’, the 61

  Broule, Alphonse 309

  Brown, Frederick: as head of Slade 34–5, 36, 79, 336; on students learning from each other 45; buys AJ’s work 88, 147; member of New English Art Club 93, 107; mentioned 56

 

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