DOI issue:
No. 325 (April 1920)
DOI article:Marriott, Charles: Mr. Augustus John as portrait painter
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0055
MR. AUGUSTUS 'JOHN AS PORTRAIT PAINTER
THE RIGHT HON. LORD
ROBERT CECIL, P.C., M.P.
BY AUGUSTUS E. JOHN
all, a traditional art, with standards of its
own drawn from the deep experience of
the race. By long and continuous experi-
ment it has found out what will and what
will not u work ” as a means of communi-
cation between one human being and
another. Mr. John is not only grounded
in painting as a craft, but in painting as a
tradition ; and in the long run that serves
a man better than a great deal of assorted
information about the facts of nature. 0
Lord Fisher of Kilver stone, O.M.,
G.C.U.O., is almost too good to be true in
its confirmation of popular belief. At the
same time, it is all done by and through
painting, so that you are forced to conclude
that the popular belief is founded in fact.
Finally, we come to the portraits of women.
It is quite obvious that they are done in
a different faith, so to speak, than those
of men. They are much more subjective.
The impression they give me is that in
painting them Mr. John depends even less
exclusively upon his eyes than at other
times ; that he allows his brush to be
guided less by the looks than by the tem-
perament of the sitter. But in Princess
Antoine Bihesco, at any rate, the bidding
of temperament has produced a definite
personality. Charles Marriott
49
THE RIGHT HON. LORD
ROBERT CECIL, P.C., M.P.
BY AUGUSTUS E. JOHN
all, a traditional art, with standards of its
own drawn from the deep experience of
the race. By long and continuous experi-
ment it has found out what will and what
will not u work ” as a means of communi-
cation between one human being and
another. Mr. John is not only grounded
in painting as a craft, but in painting as a
tradition ; and in the long run that serves
a man better than a great deal of assorted
information about the facts of nature. 0
Lord Fisher of Kilver stone, O.M.,
G.C.U.O., is almost too good to be true in
its confirmation of popular belief. At the
same time, it is all done by and through
painting, so that you are forced to conclude
that the popular belief is founded in fact.
Finally, we come to the portraits of women.
It is quite obvious that they are done in
a different faith, so to speak, than those
of men. They are much more subjective.
The impression they give me is that in
painting them Mr. John depends even less
exclusively upon his eyes than at other
times ; that he allows his brush to be
guided less by the looks than by the tem-
perament of the sitter. But in Princess
Antoine Bihesco, at any rate, the bidding
of temperament has produced a definite
personality. Charles Marriott
49