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Lot 168
AUGUSTUS JOHN, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)
Mary McEvoy
Closed19 October 2023
Price Realised
GBP 25,200
More Information
Specialist note
This personal and intimate portrait depicts Mary McEvoy, an artist and the wife of the painter Ambrose McEvoy. Both Mary and Ambrose were students at the Slade, Ambrose studying alongside Augustus John and his sister Gwen John. Mary was eight years older than Ambrose, and exhibited at the New English Arts Club between 1900 and 1906, but later abandoned painting until her husband’s death in 1927.
Like Augustus John, Ambrose McEvoy was a talented and popular portrait painter, and the pair travelled extensively in Europe before sharing a studio at 76 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, in 1898. McEvoy embarked upon an affair with Gwen John, but when in 1900 he announced his engagement to Mary, she was deeply hurt.
John dedicated and gifted this drawing to his friend, and the touching depiction of Mary is portrayed with a soft tenderness that demonstrates his deft and skillful technique in pencil. The delicate light that falls across the sitter from the left side lends the picture a subtle and ethereal glow.
Like Augustus John, Ambrose McEvoy was a talented and popular portrait painter, and the pair travelled extensively in Europe before sharing a studio at 76 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, in 1898. McEvoy embarked upon an affair with Gwen John, but when in 1900 he announced his engagement to Mary, she was deeply hurt.
John dedicated and gifted this drawing to his friend, and the touching depiction of Mary is portrayed with a soft tenderness that demonstrates his deft and skillful technique in pencil. The delicate light that falls across the sitter from the left side lends the picture a subtle and ethereal glow.