Augustus John

1 portrait of Augustus John

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Augustus John

by Alvin Langdon Coburn, published by Duckworth & Co
collotype, 13 January 1914
8in. x 6 1/4in. (211 mm x 153 mm)
Purchased, 1962
Photographs Collection
NPG Ax7855

Sitterback to top

  • Augustus Edwin John (1878-1961), Painter. Sitter in 106 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 33 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 114 portraits, Sitter in 2 portraits.
  • Duckworth & Co, Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 63 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This photograph of John in his Chelsea studio was published in More Men of Mark, 1922, Coburn's second volume of photographs of leading politicians, authors and artists. The accompanying text, describes John as 'a remarkably picturesque subject'. The photograph was taken in the year that John was elected president of the National Portrait Society. Following the outbreak of war he was attached to the Canadian Army. He drew soldiers at the front but failed to produce a major finished work. In 1918 he punched a fellow officer and avoided court-martial only through the intervention of his patron, Lord Beaverbrook.

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1914back to top

Current affairs

Following Germany's declaration of war on France and invasion of Belgium, Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, declares war on the German Empire on August 4, 1914. The popular belief that the conflict would be 'over by Christmas' was soon found to be a bitter underestimate of the scale of the war.

Art and science

The fist issue of the periodical Blast is published by Wyndham Lewis, announcing the advent of Vorticism. This movement, named by Ezra Pound and taking in art and poetry, combined the vitality and dynamism of Italian Futurism with the geometric structure of Cubism. Vorticism was a direct challenge to the perceived quaint and domestic style of the Bloomsbury group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshop.

International

On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and triggering the First World War. Germany declared war on Serbia's ally, Russia, and then marched on France via Belgium. Soon all of Europe and most of the world was embroiled in total war.

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