Augustus Edwin John
Artists
(1878 - 1961)
Virginia Wolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sargeant was over and the age of Augustus John had dawned. Others proclaimed him the best draftsman since Michelangelo. For a period he was England's most fashionable portrait painter.
The New York Times oberved "He was the grand old man of British painting, and as one of the greatest in British History" a sentiment shared by many, though some feel the pressures of his bohemian lifestyle and the need to make money began to tell vis a vie his output in his later years.