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Artwork Details
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Title:Mrs. Atkinson
Artist:Gwen John (British, Haverfordwest, Wales 1876–1939 Dieppe, France)
Date:ca. 1897–98
Medium:Oil on paperboard
Dimensions:12 × 12 1/4 in. (30.5 × 31.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Mary Cushing Fosburgh, 1978
Object Number:1979.135.27
the artist (probably until 1900; sold to Salaman); Michel Salaman, Oakwood Hill, Dorking, England (probably 1900–at least 1946); [Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London, until 1951; sold in July 1951 to Astor]; Mary Cushing Astor, later Mrs. James W. Fosburgh, New York (1951–d. 1978; her bequest to MMA)
London. New English Art Club. "Modern Pictures," November–December 1900, no. 38 (as "Portrait of Mrs. Atkinson," lent by Miss G. M. John).
London. New Chenil Galleries. "Paintings and Drawings by Gwen John," May–July 1926, no. 35.
London. Matthiesen Ltd. "Gwen John Memorial Exhibition," September 19–October 12, 1946, no. 4 (as "Portrait of an Old Woman Wearing a Bonnet," lent by Major M. H. Salaman).
New York. Davis Galleries. "Gwen John, 1876–1939," November 8–27, 1965, no. 7 (as "Old Woman Wearing Bonnet," lent by Mr. and Mrs. James Fosburgh).
London. Barbican Art Gallery. "Gwen John: An Interior Life," September 12–November 3, 1985, no. 2 (as "Portrait of Mrs. Atkinson").
Manchester City Art Gallery. "Gwen John: An Interior Life," November 28, 1985–January 26, 1986, no. 2.
New Haven. Yale Center for British Art. "Gwen John: An Interior Life," February 26–April 20, 1986, no. 2.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Small Interiors," February 17–July 21, 1996, no catalogue.
London. Tate Britain. "Gwen John and Augustus John," September 29, 2004–January 9, 2005, no. 4 (as "Portrait of Mrs. Atkinson").
Cardiff. National Museum & Gallery. "Gwen John and Augustus John," February 12–May 15, 2005, no. 4.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, National Galleries Scotland. "Gwen John," August 1, 2026–January 4, 2027.
M[ary]. Chamot. "An Undiscovered Artist: Gwen John." Country Life 59 (June 19, 1926), pp. 884–85.
Mary Taubman. Gwen John. London, 1985, pp. 16, 24, 107–8, pl. 9, dates it 1899–1900; states that it was acquired about the time of Exh. London 1900 by Louise Salaman, from whom it was then acquired by her brother, Michel Salaman; notes that according to M. Salaman, it is a portrait of the artist's landlady.
Cecily Langdale in Cecily Langdale and David Fraser Jenkins. Gwen John: An Interior Life. Exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London. Oxford, 1985, p. 82, no. 2, ill. p. 50 (color).
David Fraser Jenkins in Cecily Langdale and David Fraser Jenkins. Gwen John: An Interior Life. Exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London. Oxford, 1985, pp. 9, 24.
Hilary Taylor. "'If a Young Painter Be Not Fierce and Arrogant God...Help Him': Some Women Art Students at the Slade, c. 1895–9." Art History 9 (June 1986), pp. 241, 244 n. 42, calls it "'Old Woman Wearing a Bonnet,' also known as 'Portrait of Mrs. Atkinson'".
Cecily Langdale. Gwen John: With a Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings and a Selection of the Drawings. New Haven, 1987, pp. 9, 24, 134, no. 5, colorpl. 4, calls it "Portrait of Mrs. Atkinson"; notes that this picture was probably purchased from Exh. London 1900 by the artist's friend, Michel Salaman.
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, p. 152, colorpl. 127.
Susan Chitty. Gwen John. New York, 1987, p. 54.
Sue Roe. Gwen John: A Life. London, 2001, pp. 21, 311 n. 41.
Cecily Langdale inGwen John and Augustus John. Ed. David Fraser Jenkins. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2004, pp. 47, 49, 52, 150, 155, no. 4, ill. (color).
Lydia Miller. "'Portrait Group' by Gwen John (1876–1939): Sociability Over Solitude." British Art Journal 23 (Autumn 2021), pp. 53, 56–58, colorpl. 14.
Alicia Foster. Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris. London, 2023, pp. 43, 214, 252 n. 18, p. 261 n. 2.
Gwen John (British, Haverfordwest, Wales 1876–1939 Dieppe, France)
1915
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