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Lot Essay
In 1942, Laurence Olivier commissioned Augustus John to paint a portrait of his then wife, Vivien Leigh (sold in these Rooms, 21 October 2021). Leigh was at that moment playing in George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma, while Olivier was serving in the Fleet Air Arm. As Hugo Vickers has noted, since the stage door of the Haymarket Theatre was very close to the National Gallery, she saw a lot of the gallery’s director, Kenneth Clark. This could well have been an impetus to the commissioning of this portrait.
Whilst the present work is dated 1943, it is possible that it was included as one of three sketches of Leigh by Augustus John that were shown at an exhibition of John’s drawings in that year at the Leicester Galleries. The opening was dubbed ‘surely the most colourful private view of this war’, while The Times critic judged Augustus John ‘our greatest living draughtsman’ adding: ‘His force, freedom, and variety are unequalled today, and he has a remarkable gift of suggesting in a few lines and washes, not only movement and solidity but also the romantic world in which the people of his imagination live’ (The Times, London, 1943).
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Whilst the present work is dated 1943, it is possible that it was included as one of three sketches of Leigh by Augustus John that were shown at an exhibition of John’s drawings in that year at the Leicester Galleries. The opening was dubbed ‘surely the most colourful private view of this war’, while The Times critic judged Augustus John ‘our greatest living draughtsman’ adding: ‘His force, freedom, and variety are unequalled today, and he has a remarkable gift of suggesting in a few lines and washes, not only movement and solidity but also the romantic world in which the people of his imagination live’ (The Times, London, 1943).
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.