Farewell to the Self: Between the Letter and the Self-Portrait

Abstract

In this paper I consider interfaces between visual and textual representations of the female self in art. I am looking in particular at Gwen John's self-portraits and the letters revolving around them. In this context, there are three thematic areas that I explore: a) questions around portraiture in general and the self-portrait in particular, b) connections between visual images and textual narratives in life-writing research and c) genealogical lines in John's self-representation through her paintings and letters. What I suggest is that John's self-portraits become events for playing with different modalities of self-representation and experimenting with other ways of painting the self, while her letters become texts destabilizing and interrogating conventions of reading the visual. What I finally argue is that the visual turn in narrative research needs to consider carefully discourses and debates in the field of art histories, while the latter have to become more informed in the nuances of life narrative research.

Keywords:

• self-portraits
• letters
• life narratives
• Gwen John
• visual turn

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Rodin Museum Archives for assisting me with the archival research and giving me permission to quote from the letters. Thanks also to Sara John for giving me permission for photocopies of Gwen John's correspondence and the Archives of the National Library of Wales for facilitating the process.

Notes

[1] NLW MS 21468D, ff.63–64.

[2] Gwen John (1876–1939) was born in Wales, studied at the Slade and moved to Paris in 1904 where she lived and worked till the end of her life. Her long affair with Auguste Rodin has been discussed at length in her two biographies (Chitty; Roe) and a series of art history monographs (Langdale Gwen; Taubman; Foster Gwen). See also Tamboukou ‘Interfaces’, for a discussion of her letters.

[3] Langdale (Gwen 38), pl. 53, cat. no. 24. Tate Gallery: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=7144&searchid=10545

[4] Langdale (Gwen 38), pl. 54, cat. no. 25. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Museum/Armory/galleryP/john.578.html

[5] The Camden Town Group introduced Post-Impressionism to Britain. Key themes in their work were life in the city, people and style.

[6] See West 2004, for an excellent overview and annotated bibliography of the literature around self-portraiture.

[7] Entry in her notebooks of 8/2/1922 (Lloyd-Morgan 124).

[8] See West (41). West points out to an interesting body of literature around Peirce's semiotics in relation to portraiture.

[9] Lloyd-Morgan 76.

[10] Lloyd-Morgan 73.

[11] Lloyd-Morgan 69.

[12] NLW MS 21468, f.66.

[13] Taubman 119.

[14] Lloyd-Morgan 72.

[15] Qtd. in Langdale Gwen 142.

[16] Landgdale (Gwen 16), pl. 17, cat. no. 8. National Portrait Gallery, London: http://www.artfund.org/artwork/3687/gwen-john-selfportrait

[17] See the portrait at: http://www.fineartprintsondemand.com/artists/whistler/gold_and_brown_self_portrait.htm

[18] Landgdale (Gwen 18), pl. 18, cat. no. 9. Tate Gallery: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=7152&searchid=10545

[19] Langdale, (Gwen 30), pl. 32, cat. no. 18. Private Collection: http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_198028/Gwen-John/The-Artist-in-her-Room-in-Paris

[20] Self-portrait nude, sketching, c.1908–09, pencil on paper (24.8x16.5), National Museum of Wales; Self-portrait, Naked, Sitting on a bed, c.1909, pencil and guache on paper (25.4x16.2)http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_198121/Gwen-John/Self-Portrait-Naked

[21] ‘Lines of flight’ is a concept from Deleuze and Guattari's (1988) philosophy, as their way of theorising resistance. See Tamboukou ‘Charting’, for a discussion of ‘lines of flight’ in women artists' narratives.