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‘I am painting with a renewal of energy quite remarkable and will not cease till I have accomplished much.’ ­– Augustus John, 1937.[1]

Entrancingly characterised with deft, masterful strokes, this double portrait was painted by Augustus John in 1937 whilst he was in Jamaica. Until recently the portrait had lost its original title which, combined with the recent discovery of an old photograph in a John family album, places the present work within a remarkably fascinating new context.
John’s initial desire to visit Jamaica can be traced back as early as 1911; he wrote to Dorelia stating ‘I think Jamaica would be a nice place to go and work.’[2] According to his autobiography Chiaroscuro (published in 1954), John’s trip to Jamaica finally materialised in 1937 after a meeting with an oculist who cast his horoscope and charted his ‘position in relation to the Zodiac and Planets’, concluding that his future contained an inevitable visit to one of the overseas territories.[3] In his autobiography, John comments; ‘I would have been sorry to leave the astrologer’s forecast unfulfilled and his prophetic powers in dispute. Upon reflection, I decided a visit to Jamaica would satisfy Mr. Bruce and perhaps turn out profitably for myself, too.’[4]
His trip to Jamaica coincided with the early stages of serious revolts against poor wages and working conditions. Upon arrival, John was initially mistaken for a British politician – much to his disdain - but he soon immersed himself within the community and painted many of the individuals that he met. John was utterly invigorated by his time in Jamaica. On arrival, he wrote a letter to Mavis de Vere Cole suggesting that Jamaica both suited and stimulated him; ‘I am painting with a renewal of energy quite remarkable and will not cease till I have accomplished much.’.[5] Many admirers of John’s work have noted the power in his brush during this time. His biographer, Michael Holroyd, states ‘These Jamaican pictures, constructed rather as a modeller builds up his clay to make shapes, represent the most vigorous body of John’s work over the last thirty years of his career.’[6]
The first hotel where John and his family stayed was the Mona Great-House, near Kingston. Whilst there, John and his children took photographs of the surrounding area and the staff who worked at the hotel, which were then pasted into an album. In the centre of the album – which now belongs to one of John’s granddaughters – is a photograph of the two sitters in the present portrait [Fig. 1]. They are dressed in the same clothing as depicted in the portrait and look directly out towards the camera. A further portrait of the woman on the right-hand side of the composition is in the collection at the Tate and was painted in the same year. The rarity of this reunion between painted and photographed unnamed sitters cannot be overstated.
A label on the reverse of this painting indicates that it was included as number twelve in John’s solo exhibition at Arthur Tooth & Sons’ in 1938. In the catalogue, the title is given as ‘The Sisters’, an identification which seems plausible given the evident closeness of the two women observed in the photograph. A further photograph, presumably taken just prior to the exhibition at Tooth’s in 1938, is also in the family’s possession and shows John posing in front of the portrait [fig. 2]. Of the exhibition itself, Dudley Tooth was delighted, particularly with the works John produced in Jamaica. In his diary, Tooth noted that the exhibition had been ‘a tremendous success, nearly everything having been sold…’.[7] Clients who purchased paintings from the exhibition included J. B. Priestley, Oswald Birley, Syrie Maugham and Sir Stafford Cripps.
The present work, bought from the exhibition by Mrs Ronald de Pass, was subsequently in the collection of the late Wallace Ransford Campbell, a leading art collector in Jamaica whose collection included numerous works by important Jamaican and Caribbean artists such as Wifredo Lam.

Archival images courtesy of Rebecca John.

[1] John, A. (1937) Letter to Mavis de Vere Cole, 22 February 1937, quoted in Holroyd, M. (1996) Augustus John: The New Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, p. 514.
[2] John, A. (1911) Letter to Dorelia, September 1911, quoted in Holroyd, M. (1975), Augustus John Volume II: The Years of Experience. London: Heinemann, p. 141.
[3] John, A. (1954) Chiaroscuro: Fragments of an Autobiography by Augustus John. London: Readers Union, p. 202.
[4] John, A. (1954) Chiaroscuro: Fragments of an Autobiography by Augustus John. London: Readers Union, p. 202.
[5] John, A. (1937) Letter to Mavis de Vere Cole, 22 February 1937, quoted in Holroyd, M. (1996) Augustus John: The New Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, p. 514.
[6] Holroyd, M. (1996) Augustus John: The New Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, p. 514
[7] Tooth, D. (1938) Diary Entry, quoted in Holroyd, M. (1996), Augustus John: The New Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, p. 514.