Portrait of Dylan Thomas, by Augustus John.
National Portrait Gallery buys portrait of Dylan Thomas The National Portrait Gallery has acquired a portrait of Dylan Thomas by his close friend Augustus John. The portrait, which links two of the most significant cultural figures in twentieth century Britain, has been purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and The Thompson Family Charitable Trust.]]>
August 18, 2018, source: National Portrait Gallery
The work, one of two portraits of Dylan Thomas by artist and fellow Welshman Augustus John, is a particularly striking portrayal of a young Thomas, painted in the 1930s when the poet was just twenty-three and at the height of his creativity. The painting was previously on long-term loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London where it has been on permanent display for twenty years.
Dylan Thomas met the painter Augustus John at the Fitzroy Tavern in London’s Charlotte Street in the early 1930s. Thomas had become a distinctive figure in bohemian circles in Soho and Fitzrovia and the two furthered their friendship during many evenings there and in the nearby Marquis of Granby on Rathbone Street. In the spring of 1936 the painter introduced Thomas to his future wife, Caitlin Macnamara, whom he married the following year.
The portrait is a product of the close acquaintance between the poet and artist. Thomas sat for John twice shortly after his marriage to Caitlin Macnamara, during visits to Hampshire to stay with Caitlin’s mother, who lived close to John’s studio. Of his exuberant sitter the artist wrote ‘we frequently met … I got him to sit for me twice, the second portrait being the more successful: provided with a bottle of beer he sat very patiently.’ The other portrait (whether this is the first or second of the two is not known) is now in the collection of the National Museum Wales.
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