Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings [antikvár]

FOREFTORD FOR THE SECOND YEAR in successlon the Arts Council has gladly accepted the invitation of the National Eisteddfod to arrange an exhibition. On this occasion it was decided to hold a one-man show of the paintings and drawings of Augustus John, O.M., R.A., whom one can justly regard as the greatest Welsh painter since Richard Wilson. The exhibition, which has been prepared in the Council's Welsh office, will be shown at Bridgend during the Eisteddfod and will then visit other Welsh and English towns. The Council is deeply grateful to Her Majesty the Queen and all the other collectors, whose generosity in lending their pictures for an extended period, often at some inconvenience to themselves, has made the exhibition possible. Its thanks are also due to the artist himself and to many others whose interest and information have been invaluable. In particular it is indebted to the Director and Staif of the National Museum of Wales for unstinted practical assistance. p. j. INTRODUCTION THE HISTORY of modem painting contains so many instances of artists whose work has found popular recognition only after their deaths that the phenomenon of a painter whose work has achieved success over a period of fifty years of his own lifetime may strike us as significantly unfamiliar. Augustus John has long been a name, not only among artists and connoisseurs, but to the public, and has in a sense epitomized the popular conception of an artist. And though opinion may vary as to the use he has made of his powers, his natural genius has not been doubted since he first began to show his drawings in the early years of the century. To many collectors and a wide circle of patrons his varied output has been an unrivalled source of delight. More than any contemporary painter he has been a figure of his time, able to take his place among the greatest of his contemporaries in other walks of life. It would be interesting to foresee what place in the history of painting posterity will accord an artist who has stood apart from the trend of his period and, in spite of personal sympathies and loyalties, has been something of a lonely figure in contemporary art. But in spite of the originality of his genius and the force of his personality, the influence of his work has not been, and is not likely to be, commensurate with his achievement. He has not had the influence of such a painter as Cézanne, nor is likely to have in the future, in spite of his abundant powers, because he has contributed no new body of ideas to painting, nor new interpretation of its pur-