Nuns and women in church

Details

Gwen John (1876-1939)
Nuns and women in church
stamped with signature 'Gwen John' (lower left)
pencil and watercolour
8½ x 6¾ in. (21.5 x 17.1 cm.)
Executed circa 1921-29. This work is recorded with the estate number E.J. 1053.

Provenance

with Anthony d'Offay, London, from whom acquired by the present owner, 12 November 1987.

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Lot Essay

The setting of the present work is Meudon church, the subject of many watercolours by Gwen John in the 1910s and again in the 1920s. Typically she depicted either solitary women or several female figures, half or three-quarter-length, from the side or rear, as she positioned herself at the back of the church. The setting is only indicated by the occasional inclusion of a prie-Dieu or station of the cross on the wall, as seen in the present work. She found the subject matter compulsive: 'The drawings must be done because I feel so much inclined to do them ... The subjects keep on presenting themselves' (letter of 5 August 1912 from Gwen John to John Quinn).

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