The Nun - Gwen John
Theme : Art and Culture

Born in Haverfordwest, brought up in Tenby, Gwen John (1876 - 1939) spent much of her adult life living in France. She chose to live in relative obscurity, shunning the more Bohemian lifestyle associated with her brother, Augustus. In 1910 she moved to a flat in Meudon outside Paris. In 1913 a nearby convent (the Order of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Virgin of Tours) commissioned Gwen to paint a portrait of their 17th century founder, Mère Poussepin (at NMGW Cardiff) from a likeness on a prayer-card. "It was to be the first of several similar paintings, since the nuns [ ] decided they would like one for each room in the convent and it set a precedent for Gwen's habit of making several variants of the same subject...she worked on all the versions concurrently, tiring herself out over this for the next seven years (Roe, Sue Gwen John; a life, p.148). In addition to this work, other 'Nuns' from the sequence may be seen at the Tate and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
© Estate of Gwen John 2004. All Rights Reserved, DACS

This Item is located at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in the Permanent Collection