Still Life with a Prayer Book, Shawl, Vase of Flowers and Inkwell
Date:
late 1920s
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
10 1/2 × 8 1/2 inches (26.7 × 21.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
No Known Copyright
Accession Number:
B2014.5.2
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
wallpaper | vase | inkwell | flowers | shawl | still life | prayer book
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)A Decade of Gifts and Acquisitions (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-06-01 - 2017-08-13)
Publications:
Gwen John, 1876-1939, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, 1982, cat. 17, NJ18 J594 H66 (YCBA)Gwen John, Gwen John : A Retrospective Exhibition, Davis & Long Company, New York, New York, 1975, p. 34, no. 31, V 0618 (YCBA)Cecily Langdale, Gwen John : With a Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings and a Selection of the Drawings, , Yale University Press, New Haven, 1987, p. 100, 176, no. 144, pl. 254, NJ18 J594 A12 L25 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Gwen John left Britain for France in 1903 and lived and worked in Meudon, outside Paris, for the rest of her life. A private person with little appetite for social activity, John eschewed the bohemian artistic milieu of Paris but still gained exposure to the latest innovations in modern painting. The quiet, contemplative mood of this painting is coupled with a sense of artistic daring. The perspective of the table is so steep that the objects look like they might slide off. The striped wallpaper flattens the image to an even greater extent. The objects form a picture of the artist, with the prayer book, inkwell, shawl, and flowers evoking her pious nature, furtive mind, and melancholic sense of beauty. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020