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Lot 102
JOHN (AUGUSTUS) Autograph letter signed ("John"), to his fellow artist William Orpen ("Dear Orpen"), announcing that, now spring is sprung, he is going a'gypsying in Wales, Matching Green, Essex, no date [Spring 1904 or possibly 1905], illustrated with a view of John and his companions as gypsies in the mountains of North Wales and a full-length self portrait saluting Mount Snowdon
11 November 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£2,000 - £3,000
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JOHN (AUGUSTUS)
Autograph letter signed ("John"), to his fellow artist William Orpen ("Dear Orpen"), announcing that, now spring is sprung, he is going a'gypsying in Wales, and hope that, by the time he gets back, that he and Knewstub will have recovered their spirits and that their art school will once again be flourishing ("...It is most pleasant here now in the springtime, the flowers & buds are putting forth and the birds are all in song/ I am thinking of going to N. Wales for a few weeks. I am sure I should find it most enjoyable. Besides an open air life is most desirable on all grounds. By keeping in mind a picture of me a'Gypsying you cannot fail to retain your good spirits and energy..."), 4 pages, first and last dust-stained, some weakness at folds, 8vo, Matching Green, Essex, no date [Spring 1904 or possibly 1905]
Footnotes
ILLUSTRATED WITH A DOUBLE-PAGE VIEW OF JOHN AND HIS COMPANIONS AS GYPSIES IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH WALES, John lying on the grass with a pipe in his mouth and a bottle in his hand, with a male companion and two Romany women, a kettle hanging by a stick over the fire and their horse grazing by their tent, with mountains in the background. Gypsies had held a fascination for John since his days as a child in Wales: 'Edwin [his father] had cautioned his children never to go out on market days in case they were captured by the Gypsies. Augustus, who longed to be kidnapped and led away to an open-air life, was to make the Gypsies one of his artistic subjects and later improved his mother's maiden name of Smith to Petulengro, which, meaning "blacksmith", might be taken as its Romani equivalent. "We are the sort of people", he remarked to another Tenby-born artist, Nina Hamnett, "our fathers warned us against!" (Michael Holroyd, ODNB). This letter was exhibited at the Tate Britain exhibition, Gwen John and Augustus John, 2004-5, Room 3 'Augustus John : Gypsy Fantasies'.
The last page contains another pen-and-ink drawing, showing the artist full length, waving his hat and declaiming the lines by Dafydd ap Gwilym in praise of Snowdon: "Bore o'r cymwl aur/ Eryri oedd dy gaer/ Bren o wyllt a gwar/ Gwawr ysbrydau!!"