Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gwen-john-1363" aria-label="More by Gwen John" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Gwen John</a>
A Lady Reading
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1917
actions: postures and motions
adults
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
book - non-specific
chair
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
curtain
domestic
fine arts and music
France
furnishings
interiors
John, Gwen
leisure and pastimes
living room
named individuals
objects
Paris - non-specific
people
picture
places
portraits
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
self-portraits
standing
woman
work and occupations
<p>Gwen John said that she had tried to make the head of this woman look like a painting of the Virgin Mary by Albrecht Dürer, suggesting a link with traditional images of the Annunciation. However, she later decided to improve the picture and made a second version, using her own portrait instead of the idealised head shown here; this version can be seen in room 2 of the current exhibition in the Linbury galleries.</p><p>The interior is Gwen John’s own room in Paris. The framed drawings of cats on the wall behind the figure are also by Gwen John.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2008</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2003-06-21
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-06-21
International Modern Art
Collection based display
12 March 2004 – 30 September 2004
2004-09-30
12 March 2004 – 14 June 2004
2004-06-14
2004-03-12
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia)
9 July 2004 – 12 September 2004
2004-09-12
2004-07-09
Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au
2004-03-12
The Edwardians
Loan-out
16 December 2006 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
16 December 2006 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
2006-12-16
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-12-16
Intimate Interiors
Collection based display
9 March 2020 – 3 January 2021
2021-01-03
9 March 2020 – 3 January 2021
2021-01-03
2020-03-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2020-03-09
Gwen John
Collection based display
31 October 2022
8 February 2021
2021-02-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-10-31
Gallery 5A
Collection based display
13 May 2023 – 30 April 2024
2024-04-30
13 May 2023 – 8 October 2023
2023-10-08
2023-05-13
Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK)
27 October 2023 – 30 April 2024
2024-04-30
2023-10-27
Holburne Museum of Art (Bath, UK)
http://www.bath.ac.uk/Holburne/
2023-05-13
Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris
Loan-out
7 February 2026 – 28 November 2027
2027-11-28
7 February 2026 – 28 June 2026
2026-06-28
2026-02-07
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
1 August 2026 – 4 January 2027
2027-01-04
2026-08-01
National Galleries of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK)
18 February 2027 – 20 June 2027
2027-06-20
2027-02-18
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp
30 July 2027 – 28 November 2027
2027-11-28
2027-07-30
National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C, USA)
2026-02-07
Gwen John
Loan-out
A Lady Reading
support: 403 × 254 mm
frame: 495 × 375 × 55 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1917
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text7">Gwen John said that she had tried to make the head of      this woman look like  a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of the Virgin Mary by Albrecht Dürer,      suggesting a link with traditional images of the Annunciation. However,  
she later decided to improve the picture and made a second version, using      her own <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> instead of the idealised head shown here; this version can      be seen in room 2 of the current exhibition in the Linbury galleries. </span>
</div>
<div class="para9">
<span class="text7">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text7">The interior is Gwen John’s own room  in Paris.      The framed <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> of cats  on the wall behind the figure are also  by      Gwen John. </span>
</div>

Display caption
2008-07-30T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N03174</b> A LADY READING <i>c.</i> 1898–1900
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 15 7/8×10 (40·5×25·5).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1917.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> An anonymous member of the C.A.S. Committee who presented it to the Society in 1911.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> C.A.S., <i>Loan Exhibition</i>, Manchester, winter 1911 (96); C.A.S., <i>Loan Collection of Modern Paintings</i>, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, October 1912 (128); C.A.S., <i>First Public Exhibition in London</i>, Goupil Gallery, April 1913 (71), as ‘Interior’; C.A.S., <i>Purchases and Gifts</i>, 53 Grosvenor Street, June 1914 (11a); C.A.S., <i>Modern Paintings</i>, Belfast, November 1914 (22).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Burlington Magazine</i>, LXXXI, 1942, p.239, pl.2b; John Russell, <i>From Sickert to 1948</i>, 1948, pl.19; Allan Gwynne-Jones, <i>Portrait Painters</i>, 1950, pl.134.</p>
<p>It is generally accepted by those who knew Gwen John that this is an early self-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> and was painted in Paris. Gwen John painted several pictures of this room and the wicker chair. A very similar picture was in the Quinn Collection and in it the sitter is turned more towards the window and wears a bow in her hair (sold American Art Association, New York, 11 February 1927, lot 465, repr. p.183). Mrs Frances Cornford of Cambridge owns a small interior painted in the same room with the artist sitting in the chair (exhibited <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/new-english-art-club" title="Glossary definition for 'New English Art Club'"><span>N.E.A.C</span></a>., spring 1908 (109), as ‘La Chambre sur le Cour’); ‘A Corner of the Artist's Room in Paris’, 1900–5 (?), is reproduced by John Rothenstein, <i>Modern British Painters: Sickert to Smith</i>, 1952, pl.18. Note the pictures of cats on the wall of <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-a-lady-reading-n03174" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03174</span></a> and see <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-cat-n05154" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05154</span></a>, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-cat-n05155" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05155</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-cat-t00156" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T00156</span></a>.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults artist, painter arts and entertainment book - non-specific chair cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents curtain domestic fine arts and music France furnishings interiors John, Gwen leisure and pastimes living room named individuals objects Paris - non-specific people picture places portraits reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities self-portraits standing woman work and occupations