Issued: 25 April 2019

Augustus John exhibition to open at The Salisbury Museum

The Salisbury Museum is pleased to announce a new summer exhibition for 2019 Augustus John: Drawn from Life. The exhibition will open on 18 May and run until 29 September 2019.

This exhibition is co-curated by Dr David Boyd Haycock, a freelance writer, lecturer and independent curator, in partnership with Salisbury Museum.

Dr Haycock explains that his interest in John was roused when he was writing his 2009 book A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War. ‘Many of the young artists I was writing about – such as C R W Nevinson, Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington – were utterly fascinated by John. He was the artist they most wanted to emulate – to draw like, and to live like. He was the archetypal Bohemian artist, and that intrigued me, especially as he has so fallen out of fashion. Virginia Woolf called the years from 1908 ‘the age of Augustus John,’ but who was he, and why had been such an inspiring and dangerous influence upon the younger artists of his day? It seemed like a question that needed re-examining.’

Augustus John: Drawn from Life aims to reappraise the life and work of this significant, but increasingly overlooked British artist. John was an incredibly talented draughtsman, who went on to become a leading society portraitist. He knew and painted some of the most fascinating personalities of the inter war period and the exhibition will include portraits of the legendary Colonel T E Lawrence and Dorset poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. John also captured his domestic life with tender portraits of his wife Ida, his partner and muse Dorelia and their children, who would inspire his work well into later life. Indeed a painting of John’s son Tristan de Vere Cole, from 1951, shows clearly how the subject of a painting could continue to inspire, even near the end of a long creative career.

Augustus John’s work was highly sought after during his lifetime and as a result, his portraits became widely dispersed. This exhibition will bring together a unique selection of works usually held both in private and public collections, (including Tate, The Ashmolean and the Fitzwilliam Museum), and afford the opportunity to contemplate once more John’s development as an artist, his skill as a draughtsman and passion for portraiture.

ENDS

Image:

Colonel T E Lawrence, 1919 Augustus John (1878 – 1961) Presented by the Duke of Westminster, 1920 Image: © Estate of Augustus John/Tate, London 2018

Additional information:

Drawn from Life follows our 2018 summer exhibition Out of the Shadows on John’s contemporary Henry Lamb. Both artists were supremely talented draftsmen and painters who made a significant contribution to British art in the first half of the 20th century’. Drawn from Life was first shown at Poole Museum in 2018 and Out of the Shadows will be shown at Poole in 2019.

The exhibition represents a partnership between The Salisbury Museum and Poole Museum under the umbrella of the Wessex Museums Partnership, supported by Arts Council England, and is co-curated by David Boyd Haycock.

Exhibition:

Augustus John: Drawn from Life 18 May – 29 September 2019 Main Exhibition Galleries

No booking required Normal admission charges apply £8 Adults, £4 Children, £20 Family

Museum opening hours: Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm Sundays (from 19 May – 29 September) 12 midday – 5pm

For the full programme of supporting events, please go to www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on

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Press Contact: Louise Tunnard [email protected] 01722 820541