Augustus Edwin John

John was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, the third of four children. A brilliant student at the Slade School of Art (1894-98). He had also studied together with his sister Gwen John in Paris. He was associated with the New English Art Club and the Camden Town Group but remained largely independent from artistic trends and movements. By the 1920s he was the leading portraitist of his day whose sitters included distinguished contemporaries such as George Bernard Shaw and T.E. Lawrence. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1928. Alongside these achievements his lifestyle epitomised that of the bohemian artist, a reputation bolstered by his fascination with Romany culture.

Text © National Portrait Gallery, London