at Pallant House, Chichester, 

until 8 October 2023

and the Holburne Museum, Bath, 

21 October 2023 – 14 April 2024 

Like Lucie Rie, Gwen John found success in a foreign country – but moved as a result of personal choice rather than political necessity. Born in Wales, she studied in England, then visited - and before long settled - in France, where most of her work was created. 

For some time in the shadow of her younger brother Augustus, she is now generally seen as the more interesting, I would even say ‘better’, artist - although precisely what that means depends on the way you define 'better'. I certainly prefer her work, finding it more subtle, more perceptive, and free of the masculine bluster with which her brother's work is redolent. There is something surprisingly, even unnervingly, modern about her direct, honest, and perceptive paintings, and, as curator and author Alicia Foster shows, she was far from the shrinking violet that reputation – and some of her paintings – might suggest. 

Many of John’s early works have not survived, but Foster shows us the milieu in which her art developed, and finds a number of telling comparisons with the work of her artistic contemporaries in Europe, people she knew and admired. It’s almost always true to say that I prefer her works to those of the famous men with whom her interests are compared. Subtly, the proportion of her own paintings increases through the display as she finds her own voice. 

As ever, we will explore these developments through a careful investigation of the works that are exhibited. Like the Lucie Rie exhibition, this show will also have a second embodiment at the Holburne Museum in Bath, although I would recommend you try to see it in Chichester before then, as I suspect it will have a narrower scope when it moves.