Gwen John
(1876 - September 18, 1939) U.K.
Painter
Born in Haverfordwest, Wales. Like her brother, Augustus John, Gwen studied at the Slade School of Art (1895-98). On leaving she worked briefly in Paris with James Whistler and returned to London in 1899, where she began to exhibit her work.
In 1903 Gwen John set out with Dorelia McNeill, to walk to Rome. They only got as far as France and Gwen made the decision to settle in Paris. Gwen continued to paint and in 1906 began modeling for the sculptor Auguste Rodin and also became his mistress.
Two of her relationships, a love affair with Auguste Rodin and a love relationship with Vera Oumançoff, sister-in-law of Jacques Maritain, could be described as obsessional attachments.
After her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1913 she moved to the suburban village of Meudon. In later life she concentrated on small-scale portraits and still-lifes.
The public hospital in the port city of Dieppe, France recorded the death of a sixty-three year old woman, a Catholic painter of some reputation. Gwen John had traveled to this port city from Paris only days before, carrying nothing except a notarized copy of her will and burial instructions.
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