Oil paint on board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
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>
Nun
Purchased 1940
actions: postures and motions
adults
book - non-specific
French
furnishings
hands crossed
individuals: female
leisure and pastimes
nationality
nun
objects
people
portraits
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
religious
sitting
society
table
woman
work and occupations
<p>Gwen John, who was received into the Roman Catholic church in 1913, painted many pictures of nuns. She became involved with the nuns at the Convent at Meudon near Paris, where she lived. She was asked to paint an imaginary portrait of their foundress Mere Poussepin, which she copied, taking two years to do so, from a prayer card. John also painted portraits of several nuns from the Convent, including this one of an unknown young woman. They sat for John, but were posed in the same way as Mere Poussepin appears in the prayer card. There was an orphanage near by that was part of the Convent, and John painted many watercolours of the children there.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint board
29 September 2004 – 15 May 2005
2005-05-15
29 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
12 February 2005 – 15 May 2005
2005-05-15
2005-02-12
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
2004-09-29
Gwen John and Augustus John
Exhibition
5 July 2008 – 21 September 2008
2008-09-21
5 July 2008 – 21 September 2008
2008-09-21
2008-07-05
Barber Institute of Fine Arts (Birmingham, UK)
http://www.barber.org.uk
2008-07-05
Reunited: Gwen John, Mère Poussepin and the Catholic Church
Loan-out
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
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
The Nun
frame: 865 × 600 × 70 mm
support: 707 × 446 mm
Purchased 1940
<p>Gwen John, who was received into the Roman  Catholic church in 1913, painted many pictures of  nuns. She became involved with the nuns at the  Convent at Meudon near Paris, where she lived. She  was asked to paint an imaginary <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> of their  foundress Mere Poussepin, which she copied, taking  two years to do so, from a prayer card. John also  painted portraits of several nuns from the  Convent, including this one of an unknown young  woman. They sat for John, but were posed in the  same way as Mere Poussepin appears in the prayer  card. There was an orphanage near by that was part  of the Convent, and John painted many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolours</span></a>  of the children there.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05162</b> THE NUN <i>c.</i> 1920–30
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 27×17 (68×43).
<br/>Purchased from the Matthiesen Gallery (Knapping Fund) 1940.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> As for No.5152.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>Burlington Magazine</i>, LXXXI, 1942, p.240, pl.3a.</p>
<p>This is one of several pictures of nuns painted by Gwen John. According to a letter from Sister Madeleine de la Présentation (8 August 1957) Gwen John became interested in the Sisters of the Presentation and made sketches of them in church. She was attracted by their habit, but appears to have painted them in their original habit which differed from that worn in her day. It is not possible to identify the nuns who sat for her. She painted a number of pictures of the Foundress, Mère Poussepin, either from an original contemporary <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> in the convent, or, more probably, from the devotional <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/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> made from it. At the time of her baptism into the Catholic Church, <i>c.</i> 1913, she used to come to the convent for religious instruction, and in gratitude for this she used to make small paintings which were sold for the benefit of the orphans. Besides the <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>portraits</span></a> of Mère Poussepin other pictures of nuns painted by Gwen John are in the following Collections: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (very similar to <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-the-nun-n05162" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05162</span></a> in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>), Edward Le Bas, and Michel Salaman.</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
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults book - non-specific French furnishings hands crossed individuals: female leisure and pastimes nationality nun objects people portraits reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities religious sitting society table woman work and occupations