Biography

Painter, mainly in oil, draughtsman and printmaker. Born in Tenby, Wales, brother of the artist Gwen John, he attended the Slade School of Fine Art, 1894-8, winning a Scholarship in 1896 and the Summer Composition Prize two years later. John's prodigious natural ability as a draughtsman won the admiration of Henry Tonks, and he soon established himself as a star student and an art world character. Hen became noted for drawings and paintings of his second wife, Dorelia, his children, his sister Gwen, personalities such as George Bernard shaw, T E Lawrence, W B Yeats and Dylan Thomas, and for his landscapes and romantic scenes of peasant life.

Although sometimes out of fashion, John is assured a place as one of the great figures of British painting in his lifetime. His work is in many galleries, including the Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.