John, Augustus (British, 1878-1961) IDA WITH CHILD. Pencil on paper, not dated, but after 1901 and before 1907. Signed lower right. 7 3/4 x 13 1/4 inches (sheet), framed to 16 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches. With the label of the Fine Art Society, London providing the title and provenance: ex collection of J. Stanley Clarke Some thin spots on the verso, near the top, visible only if heldup to light, else in very good condition. From Wikipedia: "Augustus John( 1878 – 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sargent and Charles Wellington Furse "... was over. The age of Augustus John was dawning." In the second volume of BLAST, Percy Wyndham Lewis wrote, referring to John, that the ten years up to 1914 had been "the Augustan decade." "He is still considered a major artist of the twentieth century, although as with so many others, name recognition by the general public has receded as contemporary artists receive more attention. Ida Nettleship (1877-1907) was a student at the Slade School when she met Augustus John, who was then also studying there. Her marriage to John in 1901 was a scandal in her family. As with many women artists whose husbands are prominent artists, Ida's career took a back seat to Augustus's. She had five children in five years, and died, in 1907, of complications following the birth of her fifth child. The marriage was further complicated when, in 1903, she invited John's new lover and muse Dorothy McNeill to live with them. Both women had children and were close friends. John did many drawings, including many of Ida. This one, showing her with one the children, stands with his best in its evocatativeness and technical quality. As she had her first child in 1901, and died in 1907, the drawing must date between those years.
