Augustus John 1878-1961
Jamaican Landscape, 1937
oil on panel
10½ x 13¼ ins


Provenance
Private collection, UK

Exhibited
Augustus John, Royal Academy, 1954



By the 1930’s John had made the transition from the young turk of his formative years to a figure of accepted, if still fiercely unconventional, aging bohemianism. Best known for his portraiture, he could still dazzle with his painterly skills if the subject took his fancy.

His works that relate to his visit to the West Indies in 1936-7 show just how undiminished his abilities were. The rendering of light and shade beneath the tall palms, and the easy suggestion of movement in the lightly brushed figures, all bespeak an artist whose powers were anything but diminished, harking back to the many descriptions which lauded him as the finest draughtsman since the Old Masters.