YCBA Collections Search

Created by Gwen John (1876–1939), the artist; bequest to her nephew, Edwin John (1905–1978) [1][a]; assigned to Matthiesen Gallery Ltd., London [2]; acquired by Crane Kalman Gallery, London, 1959 [3][b]; purchased by Beryl Gilliat (née Brewer) (1909–1981) and Sidney Gilliat (1908–1994), London, England, 1959 [4]; purchased at auction by Fine Art Society, Ltd., Edinburgh at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, England, October 10–11, 1974 (lot 281, ‘Girl Holding a Rose’), in "Modern British paintings, drawings and sculpture" for Davis & Long, New York [5][c] [d]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1974 [e]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1993.

Notes:
[1] After Gwen John's death in 1939, her nephew, Edwin John (1905–1978), traveled to Meudon, retrieved her remaining works from her Rue Terre Neuve home, and brought them back to England. The fourth son of artist Augustus John (1878–1961), Edwin followed the artistic paths of both his father and aunt, becoming a watercolorist. He maintained a close relationship with his aunt until her death and was the sole executor of her estate.

[2] In August 1940, Matthiesen Gallery held a memorial exhibition of John’s paintings and drawings at Wildenstein & Co., London. This exhibition marks the beginning of Matthiesen Gallery’s representation of the Gwen John Estate.

[3] The Crane Kalman Gallery was founded in 1949 in Manchester by the Hungarian-British tennis player and art dealer Andras Kalman (1919–2007). The gallery relocated to London in 1957 and specializes in modern British art.

[4] Sidney Gilliat (1908–1994) was a British film director, producer, and writer. He married Beryl Maud Brewer (1909–1981) in 1933.

[5] American art dealer Roy Davis (1922–2014) founded the New York-based Davis & Langdale Company in 1952. It functioned as Davis Galleries from 1952 until 1973; as Davis & Long Company from 1973 until 1980; and as Davis & Langdale Company with Cecily Langdale from 1980. Cecily Langdale is a scholar of Gwen John’s work and released a catalogue raisonné for the artist in 1989.

Citations:
[a] Cecily Langdale, Gwen John: With a Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings and a Selection of the Drawings (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987): 121.

[b] Ibid, 159.

[c] Christie, Manson & Woods. October 10–11, 1974. Modern British paintings, drawings and sculpture.

[d] Cecily Langdale, personal communication, March 12, 2025.

[e] Ibid.