Augustus Edwin John, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)

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Born Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish Bentinck in 1873, she acquired the title of 'Lady' when her half-brother inherited the Duchy of Portland in 1879. Cousin to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Ottoline married the Liberal MP Philip Morrell in 1902. Morrell was critical of the Goverment's position on the Great War which prompted the couple to shelter a number of conscientious objectors at Garsington Manor, including Duncan Grant, Mark Gertler, and Clive Bell. To D.H. Lawrence she was 'a Queen among women', to Aldous Huxley 'a quite incredible creature', to Bertrand Russell 'my wonderful beautiful friend', to Siegfried Sassoon the saviour who 'inspired and befriended [him] when the war was at its worst'. Posterity remembers Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873-1938) largely as an icon of a very English sense of style, as individual as it was flamboyant; more correctly as the woman who brought together three generations of writers and artists and who was one of the defining figures of modern British culture.

Augustus Edwin John, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)

Study of Lady Ottoline Morrell

Details

Augustus Edwin John, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)
Study of Lady Ottoline Morrell
signed 'John' (lower right)
pencil and ink
16½ x 10½ in. (42 x 26.6 cm.)

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