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Lot Essay
Gwen John met Dorothy ‘Dorelia’ McNeil during the autumn of 1902 and immediately adored her as did her brother Augustus. In the summer of 1903 Gwen had managed to convince Dorelia to accompany her on a walking trip, with Rome as the destination. The two women took a steamship from the Thames to Bordeaux and then continued by foot as far as Toulouse where they settled for the winter. It was during this trip that John completed the majority of her portraits of Dorelia, as for two unchaperoned women there was little to do other than paint. This enchanting portrait of Dorelia was likely created while the pair travelled together at this time.
John has captured Dorelia’s likeness tenderly and affectionately in a delicate combination of pencil and ink. The work is demonstrative of the emphasis placed on drawing during John’s time at the Slade School through the highly finished manner in which she has represented Dorelia’s facial features and hair. Her thick lashes are emphasised with a single stroke of black ink and strokes over varying shades and tones build up her tousled plaited hair. The carefully considered layers of ink wash and pencil dissolve into loose, sketchy pencil marks in the depiction of Dorelia’s shoulders, necklace and the frill of the neckline of her dress. While at the Slade, Augustus and Gwen, two years his senior, held an evening drawing class in their Fitzroy street residence for their group to continue their study. They took turns to pose. ‘This shifted the emphasis of their work from grand artistic designs to the study of individual models, as they sat around drawing each other’ (D.F. Jenkins and C. Stephens (eds), exhibition catalogue, Gwen John and Augustus John, London, Tate Gallery, 2004, p. 47). The results of this approach are evident in John’s aims to capture the individuality of Dorelia’s facial features through portraiture, rather than the more academic approach to life drawing and its poses.
During their stay in Toulouse, John painted two of her most celebrated early portraits, both of Dorelia. In the work titled The Student (1903-04, Manchester City Galleries), Dorelia plays the part as she is represented in thoughtful contemplation, perhaps of the book she holds or the others placed on the table. Though not a study for a larger painted portrait, the present work does have similarities in the way she chose to present Dorelia. She meets the gaze of the viewer with a sombre and seemingly pensive expression, that isn’t at odds with the previous representations of Dorelia as an intellectual. John’s picturing of Dorelia makes a fascinating contrast to Augustus John’s countless images of the sitter from 1902 onwards. As his mistress and then from 1907, his wife, Augustus paints Dorelia as a bohemian in elaborate costumes and always as the object of his desire. David Fraser Jenkins writes ‘Their feelings for Dorelia show their alternative routes of escape, described by Michael Holroyd ‘as if they had the same telescope but were looking through different ends of it’. Augustus turned Dorelia into a gypsy in an open landscape, an enchantress … For Gwen, Dorelia was a reward of refuge, silent and at ease in the corner of a small room, whose smile promised a perfect retreat’ (ibid., p. 13).
John has captured Dorelia’s likeness tenderly and affectionately in a delicate combination of pencil and ink. The work is demonstrative of the emphasis placed on drawing during John’s time at the Slade School through the highly finished manner in which she has represented Dorelia’s facial features and hair. Her thick lashes are emphasised with a single stroke of black ink and strokes over varying shades and tones build up her tousled plaited hair. The carefully considered layers of ink wash and pencil dissolve into loose, sketchy pencil marks in the depiction of Dorelia’s shoulders, necklace and the frill of the neckline of her dress. While at the Slade, Augustus and Gwen, two years his senior, held an evening drawing class in their Fitzroy street residence for their group to continue their study. They took turns to pose. ‘This shifted the emphasis of their work from grand artistic designs to the study of individual models, as they sat around drawing each other’ (D.F. Jenkins and C. Stephens (eds), exhibition catalogue, Gwen John and Augustus John, London, Tate Gallery, 2004, p. 47). The results of this approach are evident in John’s aims to capture the individuality of Dorelia’s facial features through portraiture, rather than the more academic approach to life drawing and its poses.
During their stay in Toulouse, John painted two of her most celebrated early portraits, both of Dorelia. In the work titled The Student (1903-04, Manchester City Galleries), Dorelia plays the part as she is represented in thoughtful contemplation, perhaps of the book she holds or the others placed on the table. Though not a study for a larger painted portrait, the present work does have similarities in the way she chose to present Dorelia. She meets the gaze of the viewer with a sombre and seemingly pensive expression, that isn’t at odds with the previous representations of Dorelia as an intellectual. John’s picturing of Dorelia makes a fascinating contrast to Augustus John’s countless images of the sitter from 1902 onwards. As his mistress and then from 1907, his wife, Augustus paints Dorelia as a bohemian in elaborate costumes and always as the object of his desire. David Fraser Jenkins writes ‘Their feelings for Dorelia show their alternative routes of escape, described by Michael Holroyd ‘as if they had the same telescope but were looking through different ends of it’. Augustus turned Dorelia into a gypsy in an open landscape, an enchantress … For Gwen, Dorelia was a reward of refuge, silent and at ease in the corner of a small room, whose smile promised a perfect retreat’ (ibid., p. 13).