***WITHDRAWN***
Augustus John OM RA (1878-1961)
Self Portrait
Oil on canvas, 46 x 35cm (18 x 13¾'')

A letter is attached, dated 1st July 1942 from R.G. Gethin, Belline, Piltown, Co....

***WITHDRAWN***
Augustus John OM RA (1878-1961)
Self Portrait
Oil on canvas, 46 x 35cm (18 x 13¾'')

A letter is attached, dated 1st July 1942 from R.G. Gethin, Belline, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny to The Hon. Secretary, Gifts Sale Committee, Irish Red Cross Society, and confirms that the writers brother, artist Percy Gethin, received the Self Portrait directly from Augustus John.

Percy Gethin was killed in June 1916 in the Great War.

 

Provenance: Given by the artist to Percy Francis Gethin (1874-1916), thence by descent to R.G. Gethin, who gifted it to the Irish Red Cross Society, c.1942; Sold to Louis Wine, Grafton Street for £40.00; thence purchased by a Mr Sullivan for £60.00; Collection T.M. Healy by 1962; Private Collection.

Augustus John was born in the harbour town of Tenby, in Southwest Wales and went on to study at the Slade School of Art from 1894 to 1898. A talented artist, John became known throughout Europe as a proficient portraitist and made a living painting the leading personalities of the continent. This brought him into contact with many great Irish names, such as James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw and William Butler Yeats, cementing him as an artist for the Irish upper class.

A Bohemian by nature, John felt himself constantly drawn to the wildness of twentieth century gypsy culture. Enthralled as he was, he spent much of his time traversing the British countryside in a horse drawn caravan, living as part of a gypsy commune. His travels also brought him to Ireland, further affiliating him with the country and instilling its land and culture firmly in his mind.

With the outbreak of WWI in 1914, John was enlisted to accompany the Canadian troops as a war painter on the Western front. Despite being given full reign to depict what he pleased, only one painting is known to have come out of his time there. However, he was not the only artist to find himself on the front lines. An Irish painter, by name of Percy Francis Gethin, was also placed amongst the fighting, sadly losing his life in 1916.

It was to Gethin that the current lot was originally gifted by Augustus John. Perhaps this portrait was offered as a show of comradery from one artist to another at a time of upheaval or perhaps John had met Gethin on one of his Irish visits, we cannot be sure. However, the war linked these two men, as it did thousands of others and, despite Gethins death, this self-portrait remained in Ireland in the hands of Gethins brother. In 1942, halfway through the Second World War, the painting was sold in aid of the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. From here it remained in the country, ultimately finding its way to these salerooms seventy-six years later.

 

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