The Gwen John Studio Collection at Amgueddfa Cymru

Introduction: The Journey of Gwen John’s Studio Collection

In 1976, one hundred years after Gwen John’s birth, the National Museum of Wales purchased nearly 1,000 works by the artist from her nephew, Edwin. This collection comprised a handful of oil paintings and hundreds of works on paper that were all part of John’s studio collection.

What Is a Studio Collection?

A studio collection is all the artworks left in an artist’s studio after their death.

When Gwen John died suddenly in September 1939, she left all her property, including her unsold artworks, to her nephew. War had just been declared in Europe and Edwin hurried across the Channel to gather what he could and bring it to the UK for safekeeping, returning after the war to collect the rest. The collection now belonging to Amgueddfa Cymru is the bulk of what remained in Gwen John’s studio, though many works were sold at Matthiesen’s Gallery on Bond Street in London in 1946 and in subsequent exhibitions in the 1950s and 1960s.

How the Collection Came to Amgueddfa Cymru

By purchasing the remaining studio collection, the museum became home to the largest public collection of John’s work anywhere in the world. The studio collection at Amgueddfa Cymru includes over 900 drawings as well as six oil paintings and a number of sketchbooks. Before the museum purchased the studio collection, it owned just three drawings and four oil paintings by Gwen John.

Unfinished Paintings That Reveal Her Technique

The Gwen John studio collection gives an insight into the many different subjects the artist depicted and the different styles with which she experimented. John is best known for her close-toned oil paintings of women and girls seated in quiet interiors. The examples in the studio collection are unfinished, giving us an insight into her painting technique. For example, Girl in Profile (NMW A 148) shows where John has scraped back the paint surface where the girl’s hairbow would have been. Presumably, she was unhappy with her first attempt and scraped it away to try painting it again. Study of a Seated Nude (NMW A 4928) is unusual because it shows John has worked from the outer of the edges inwards, leaving the face of the sitter until last. Both paintings give us a glimpse of the unusual chalky ground (the pale base layer she put on the canvas first before painting over it in oil paint). She mixed this herself using a unique recipe for which we still don’t know the exact ingredients.

A Vast Body of Drawings and Works on Paper

The most notable feature of the studio collection though is the sheer number of drawings and watercolours in it. While John was more focused in her choice of subjects and technique in her paintings, her works on paper are much more varied. They include landscapes and street views, studies of flowers and trees, sketches of cats and horses, and drawings after portrait photographs. Many works are made in series or sets which repeat the same subject. These can be almost identical (NMW A 15751, NMW A 15752, NMW A 15753), or vary in colour and medium (NMW A 15303, NMW A 15304, NMW A 15305).

Recurring Subjects: Churches, Figures, and Everyday Life

The most frequent subject in her works on paper are figures in church (NMW A 3811). She drew the congregants of her local parish church in Meudon, then copied out these images again and again in her studio before adding watercolour and white pigment (NMW A 3611). The single image repeated the most often is Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her sister, Céline, as children (NMW A 3536, NMW A 15563, NMW A 15565). It was inspired by a photograph of them, of which Gwen John owned a copy. In each version she drew, John changed the composition slightly, adding and removing curtains, wallpaper, and toys from the background, playing with scale, and changing the colours and patterns of every surface. John used much more vivid colours in her works on paper than she ever did in her oil paintings.

What the Collection Reveals About Gwen John

The Gwen John studio collection gives us an insight into the artistic practice of one of Wales’s best-loved artists. Containing unfinished oil paintings, sketchbooks, and works on paper, it shows how methodical and experimental she was. It also gives us a glimpse into her world: the places where she lived, her friends and neighbours, her pets, her interest in nature and religion, and her art training. This collection is an invaluable resource, befitting of one of the most famous Welsh artists of the twentieth century.