Keeping the World Away

The Book

It started with a book as it often does, and this intriguing quote:

“Rules to Keep the World away: Do not listen to people (more than is necessary); Do not look at people (ditto); Have as little intercourse with people as possible; When you come into contact with people, talk as little as possible…”

3^rd March 1912, Gwen John

The book in question was Keeping the World Away, a novel by Margaret Forster which I read over the holidays. The central them of the book is a picture by the artist Gwen John called A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, of which there are at least two versions in public collections. Forster imagines an unsigned version of the painting, possibly a first attempt, that John gives to her friend the artist Ursula Tyrwhitt. Starting with chapters about the life of Gwen John, the novel charts the history of the painting as it passes through the hands of various fictional women who subsequently own it, focussing on the emotional responses it evokes.

A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris with Open Window, Gwen John, National Museum of Cardiff

As a novel it was an easy enough enjoyable read but it felt a little contrived and repetitive at times. Too many of the women were frustrated artists with similar stories, never reaching their full potential and some of the characters were a little unbelievable. I would go as far as saying they were annoying! But I was intrigued by the quiet appeal of the painting and by the life of Gwen John to find out more, especially after reading the quote above. Who was she, this woman who wanted to keep the world away?

The Artist

Gwen John, Self Portrait, National Portrait Gallery

Gwen John was born in Pembrokeshire in 1876, the second of four siblings. The children were encouraged to have an interest in both literature and art, although with a stern father and a largely absent mother due to ill health, it was an isolated childhood. Their mother died when Gwen was only eight years old, but she had already instilled a love of drawing in the young Gwen. Following their mother’s death, the two boys were sent to boarding school whilst the girls were educated at home by governesses. Gwen was especially close to her younger brother Gus (Augustus John) and in 1895 she followed him to the Slade School of Art in London, the only art school at the time to accept women. She shared accommodation with the outgoing and flamboyant Augustus who was to become one of the most influential painters of the time. Gwen however unlike her brother, was quiet, reclusive and introspective.

After leaving The Slade she travelled to Paris with friends where she studied under the American artist James McNeill Whistler, adopting his muted palette. Although she returned to England, by 1903 she was back in France with her friend Dorelia, who would later become Augustus John’s second wife.

Dorelia in a Black Dress, Gwen John, 1903-1904

The intention was to undertake a walking tour through France all the way to Rome, carrying their art equipment, sleeping rough and earning money on the way by selling portrait sketches. They only got as far as Toulouse before returning to Paris the following year where Gwen found work as an artist’s model. It was here aged 28, she met the already famous sculptor Rodin who was 35 years her senior. She was both his model and his muse and soon they began a ten-year love affair. Gwen John was utterly devoted to Rodin, as shown in her many passionate letters. Throughout her life she was given to fierce attachments to both men and women and although he showed her genuine affection, Rodin’s passion waned, and he often avoided her and kept her at a distance. During this period, she painted very little although Rodin continually encouraged her. When she did paint, she like to render the same subjects repeatedly with exacting standards often finding small differences. Her paintings were quiet and intense, frequently solitary female portraits. In later life after converting to Catholicism she painted numerous pictures of nuns.

The Nun, Gwen John, 1915-1921, The Tate

She became increasingly reclusive living alone with her cats and her last signed painting is dated 1933. She died in 1939 after collapsing, apparently having starved to death.

Despite her brother’s popularity during their lifetime, today Gwen John is considered a more significant and original painter than him, something he had predicted.

The Paintings

It was during Gwen John’s ten-year secret love affair with Rodin that she painted what may have been several versions of A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris. The scene depicts the Paris attic room in an 18^th century house in the Rue du Cherche Midi, sparsely furnished with a wicker chair and a small wooden table where she lived between 1907 and 1909. She wrote to Rodin, who paid the rent for the room:

“I must tell you... what a feeling of contentment my room gives me. I take my meals at the table in the window… In the evening my room gives me a quite extraordinary feeling of pleasure… My room is so delicious after a whole day outside, it seems to me that I am not myself except in my room.”

The small painting that shows the open window has an open book left on the table and a blue garment discarded on the chair. Although the room appears empty, we are aware of the artist’s presence. Light pours in the window and our gaze is drawn outside.

A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, Gwen John, 1907-1909

The version that Margaret Forster chose to write about has a gauzy curtain diffusing the light from the window, which is shut, there is an umbrella or parasol left against the chair and on the table, there is a small posy of flowers. It is a minimal scene, quiet and empty, yet the painting feels charged with emotion as it gives a glimpse into the artist’s personal space. We know she is there watching. There is a sense of order yet its pale, subdued colours give it a frailty too.

Her other paintings are mostly portraits, including many self-portraits, that are serene, reserved yet also slightly troubling too. Women seated indoors, three quarter length with their hands neatly folded on their laps.

Her isolated childhood, her close relationship with her brother, the obsessive affair with Rodin, her conversion to Catholicism and her reclusive later years all lend an autobiographical and psychoanalytical interpretation of her work. Just like Gwen John, her work appears to keep the world away. She doesn’t really invite us into her private universe or her personal space. We are kept at arm’s length.

Self Portrait, Gwen John, 1902

All the time I was reading the book I had a desire to put Gwen John into her room*. I have an exhibition of portraits coming up during February and another three or four paintings I would like to complete before then. But I have a problem in that I have run out of willing sitters, not to mention the fact that I haven’t picked up a paintbrush for well over a month. My confidence had done a runner! So, it seemed a safe bet, and a gentle easing back into painting to copy one of Gwen John’s self portraits and put it against a backdrop of her Paris room. I chose her self-portrait from 1902. Just twenty-six years old yet she looks directly at the viewer with a quiet confidence. She is silent, introspective, and reclusive yet there is nothing timid about her. In the words of artist Celia Paul:

“I have learned from John that you don’t need to shout to make an impact”

The finished result is far from my usual style which let’s face it, is usually a bit loud and shouty. I’m quite partial to a bit of bright colour. But I’m liking the quietness of the finished painting, despite the bright red dress and it has done the trick. My confidence has returned and I’m now brimming with ideas for more paintings. All I need now is an extra couple of months!

Keeping the World Away, Gina Ferrari 2023

*Since completing my painting and doing the research for this I discovered that John had actually made a painting of herself in her Paris attic, sat beside her bed which is not featured in other paintings of the room.

Artist in Her Room, Gwen John

Should you live anywhere near South Cambridgeshire the details of my exhibition are below.