A bit of a recluse, who lived in the shadow of the men in her life, namely her brother Augustus John and her lover Auguste Rodin? Think again! is the message from curator/art historian Alicia Foster, who has put together the first retrospective of the English painter for over 20 years, in the contemporary wing of Pallant House Gallery: Art and Life in London and Paris. John lived life to the full in two buzzing capital cities, had influential friends (including Walter Sickert) and hatched out a successful solo career, either side of the Channel, mostly painting portraits of women, with a very female gaze. And just because she liked painting her subjects in interior settings, doesn’t mean she never went out! Interiors were all the rage in those fin-de-siecle days: think Pierre Bonnard; think Edouard Vuillard. Think Paul Cezanne. It’s an interesting show, which mixes John’s quiet, sensitive, contemplative portraits with related pieces by her aforementioned loved ones, friends and contemporaries.
Pallant House
Chichester
until October 3
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