PRESS RELEASE 2012
Gwen John and Celia Paul: Painters in Parallel
6 October 2012 – 27 January 2013
day outside; it seems to me that I am not myself except in my
room."
Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex is pleased
to present the work of two of Britain’s most distinctive and
respected female artists, Gwen John (1876 –1939) and Celia
Paul (b.1959), placed side-by-side for the first time. This
exhibition includes key examples of paintings and drawings
by both artists, offering a unique insight into the common
experiences and themes which bridge almost eight decades
of history.
Though separated by over 80 years, the lives and work of
Gwen John and Celia Paul share many fascinating parallels.
Both were students at the Slade School of Art and models
and muses to internationally famous male artists, and each
have expressed a strongly personal vision that reflects their
identity as a woman artist. Their work is characterised by an
intimacy of approach, with subjects such as portraits of other
women, light-filled interior spaces and moments of quietude
depicted with an extraordinary intensity.
(Left to right) Gwen John, Mère Marie Poussepin (1920), Oil on Canvas,
Southampton City Art Gallery; Celia Paul, My Mother with a Rose (2006), Oil
on canvas, courtesy Marlborough Fine Art © the artist
Celia Paul shares this way of living and it is fitting that this
painting will be shown alongside images created in the
interior of Paul’s Spartan studio opposite the British Museum,
which was bought for her by Lucian Freud.
During her lifetime Gwen John was overshadowed by her
more famous brother Augustus John, but since her death she
has emerged as one of the most significant woman artists of
the twentieth-century. Augustus John described her as ‘the
greatest woman artist of her age, or, as I think, of any other.’
Born in Wales, Gwen John studied at the Slade School of Fine
Art, and in 1904 she moved to Paris where she earned her
living by modelling. There she met Auguste Rodin and began
to model for him, becoming his mistress at the age of 28,
more than 30 years his junior. She remained in France for the
rest of her life.
Celia Paul was born in Thiruvananthapuram in India in 1959,
where her parents were missionaries, but she returned to
England as a child. Whilst studying at the Slade School of Art
from 1976 to 1981, Paul was taught by Lucian Freud, for
whom she became a model, featuring in several paintings
such as ‘Naked Girl with Egg’ (1981), ‘Girl in a Striped
Nightshirt’ (1985) and ‘Painter and Model’ (1986-87). In 1984
Paul had a child by Freud, named Frank Paul, who is also an
artist.
Unlike her Bohemian brother Gwen John led a very private
life and the simplicity of her room with its few possessions is
presented as an ideal in several of her paintings such as the
iconic ‘A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris’ (1907), which
shows the artist’s attic studio in the Rue du Cherche Midi in
Paris, where she lived from 1907 to 1909 (and is included in
the show). She wrote: "My room is so delicious after a whole
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
10am-5pm
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk
Family £21.50*
Such familial relationships are strong in both John and Paul’s
work. While John painted intimate portraits of her sister
Winifred, Celia Paul has painted memorable paintings of her
four sisters as individuals and as a group. Speaking of the
group portraits (an example of which is included in the show)
Paul has said: “The similarities between us made me think of
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
Adult £9*, Child £3.50
United Kingdom
Charity No. 293093
Tues-Sat
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Student
*includes
voluntary
£5.50*,
donation
PRESS RELEASE 2012
the fragility of identity, not just my family’s but in portraiture
as a whole.”
For many year’s Paul’s mother was her muse and primary
model and the exhibition includes one of her most poignant
portraits, ‘My Mother with a Rose’ (2006). Of this relationship
Paul has said: “It seemed important to me to work from
someone who mattered to me. And the person who
mattered most to me was my mother.”
Cont.
Religion is another common them in John and Paul’s work.
Gwen John was received into the Roman Catholic Church in
1913 and the exhibition features her painting of ‘Mère Marie
Poussepin’, a copy portrait of the founder of the Convent of
the Sisters of Charity at Meudon. Although she is not actively
religious, a sense of spirituality pervades Paul’s work. Her
father was the Bishop of Bradford and the Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams is her brother-in-law.
Following the death of Lucian Freud in 2011, John painted a
series entitled Separation which follow the form of Stations
of the Cross. These will be displayed in Chichester Cathedral
to coincide with the exhibition at Pallant House Gallery.
Notes to Editors
Celia Paul will be available for a small number of press
interviews. Please contact Emma Robertson on
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk or 01243 770841.
The exhibition at Pallant House Gallery coincides with an
exhibition of Celia Paul’s ‘Separation’ series at Chichester
Cathedral in the autumn 2012.
A publication is being produced to coincide with the
exhibition with contributions from Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams, Celia Paul and Simon Martin, Head of
Collections and Exhibitions at Pallant House Gallery.
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
10am-5pm
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk
Family £21.50*
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
Adult £9*, Child £3.50
United Kingdom
Charity No. 293093
Tues-Sat
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Student
*includes
voluntary
£5.50*,
donation
PRESS RELEASE 2012
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
10am-5pm
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk
Family £21.50*
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
Adult £9*, Child £3.50
United Kingdom
Charity No. 293093
Tues-Sat
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Student
*includes
voluntary
£5.50*,
donation