Gwen John (1876-1939) was an artist with a singular vision, one whose intense gaze produced some of the most beguiling and atmospheric paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This concise survey of her life and work places John--often unfairly thought of as a recluse--at the artistic heart of London and Paris. A seminal figure within these circles, her work is reappraised in that context and explored in terms of the alliances and differences John had with her contemporaries. Gwen John's representation of the female nude, her paintings of interiors, and the effect of her Catholic faith on her work are all discussed. The author also discusses the key relationship between John's position as a woman artist and her lifelong fascination with the portrayal of the female sitter.

A dazzlingly original and ambitious book on the history of female self-portraiture by one of today's most well-respected art critics. Her story weaves in and out of time and place. She's Frida Kahlo, Loïs Mailou Jones and Amrita Sher-Gil en route to Mexico City, Paris or Bombay. She's Suzanne Valadon and Gwen John, craving city lights, the sea and solitude; she's Artemisia Gentileschi striding through the streets of Naples and Paula Modersohn-Becker in Worpswede. She's haunting museums in her paint-stained dress, scrutinising how El Greco or Titian or Van Dyck or Cézanne solved the problems that she too is facing. She's railing against her corsets, her chaperones, her husband and her brothers; she's hammering on doors, dreaming in her bedroom, working day and night in her studio. Despite the immense hurdles that have been placed in her way, she sits at her easel, picks up a mirror and paints a self-portrait because, as a subject, she is always available. Until the twentieth century, art history was, in the main, written by white men who tended to write about other white men. The idea that women in the West have always made art was rarely cited as a possibility. Yet they have - and, of course, continue to do so - often against tremendous odds, from laws and religion to the pressures of family and public disapproval. In The Mirror and the Palette, Jennifer Higgie introduces us to a cross-section of women artists who embody the fact that there is more than one way to understand our planet, more than one way to live in it and more than one way to make art about it. Spanning 500 years, biography and cultural history intertwine in a narrative packed with tales of rebellion, adventure, revolution, travel and tragedy enacted by women who turned their back on convention and lived lives of great resilience, creativity and bravery.

Gwen John's career spanned the last decade of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century. This new work places the artist at the centre of the cities where she worked rather than reiterating the myth of Gwen John as a recluse.

This volume is a celebration of the 200 women artists in the Tate Collection. In a series of individual entries, the book takes the reader from the 17th century, when few professional opportunities were open to women artists, to the 21st century. Topics discussed include the changing position of women artists and major developments throughout the period, as well as critical thought on women artists and their interpretation and reception. The text on each artist gives an introduction to each woman's life and work in the context of her times, and a flavour of her individual contribution

This beautifully illustrated biography of the artist Gwen John explores her life and work in the context of the art worlds in London and Paris. Gwen John was one of the most significant British artists of the earlyto mid-twentieth century, active in Paris and London, and featured inthe highly influential avant-garde Armory Show in New York in 1913. Demolishing the myth of the recluse, this sustained critical biography of a much-loved artist locates her firmly in the art worlds of London and Paris, where she chose to live and work. Written by Alicia Foster, a critically praised art historian and authority on the artist, Gwen John is based on original research, and examines John's importance in the context of twentieth-century art. While tracing the development of her work and its significance, the biography also explores John's relationships both personal and artistic, including her friendship with Rainer Maria Rilke and her romance with sculptor Auguste Rodin. John, who was born in Wales, spent the latter part of the nineteenth century in London and then moved to Paris where she remained for the rest of her life. She was a contemporary of Paul Cézanne, Marie Laurencin, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Edouard Vuillard. The book brings these two fascinating cities and John's milieu to life and introduces readers to lesser-known artists whose lives and works have slipped into obscurity. Both a study of an artist whose importance and recognition continues to grow, and of the artistic world of Europe in the early twentieth century, this book provides a compelling portrait for anyone interested in the life and work of a key figure in the history of art.

Augustus John (1878-1961) was a hugely charismatic and colourful figure, his technical skill as a draughtsman matched by his bohemian manners and dashing appearance. In the pre-war years he epitomised the rebellious artist, travelling the country in a caravan and learning Romany as a result of the time he spent with gypsies. An official War artist during the first war, he subsequently took up a career as a portraitist, painting the leading literary figures of his day as well as inheriting Sargent's mantle as a painter of Society. Gwen John (1876-1939) studied at the Slade along with Augustus, leaving in the same year (1898). She then studied in Paris under Whistler, adopting his remarkable control of colour. In 1904 she settled permanently in France, where she earned a living as a model for artists including Rodin, who became her lover. The opposite of her brother both in personality and artistically, she favoured introspective subjects, and led a reclusive life.