Augustus John’s talent as a portrait painter is epitomized in his
portraits of family members, of which the present unfinished portrait of young
Poppet (b.1912), is a fine example. 

Poppet was born in 1912, and, although originally named Elizabeth Ann,
she adopted her more familiar name soon after birth when half-brother Caspar
exclaimed; ‘what a little Poppet!’ Poppet was the second-youngest of the four
children John had with mistress Dorelia McNeil between 1905-15 [See Cat.?]. John first met Dorelia in around 1903
whilst still married to Ida Nettleship, and by 1905 their first child Pyramus
was born. Ida understood the importance of Dorelia to John (who never attempted
to hide his feelings) and subsequently tolerated, and later even enjoyed, her
company. Ida died in 1907 and Dorelia took over care of her five children
thereafter. 

By the time the present work was painted, John had consolidated his
position as one of the leading portrait painters in Britain, and in 1917 his
portrait of Dorelia in red, known as The
Smiling Woman was presented by the Contemporary Arts Society to Tate
Britain and became the first work by John to enter a public collection.

John’s portraits of his children stand out as some of his most sensitive
works and often take a very intimate close-up viewpoint; a good example of this
can be seen in John’s portrait of Robin c.1912 [Tate Britain]. The children
were perhaps not as eager for their likeness to be taken as their father, and
later in life Poppet describes how: 'If I caught his
eye he would ask me very politely to come and pose for his and this would mean
the whole morning gone…all our plans for swimming at Bicton or riding in the
forest.'[1] 

Indeed the present work betrays that sense of slight irritation and her
unfinished arms, which appear crossed at her waist, reveal a compliant yet perhaps
slightly frustrated young girl.

[1] M. Holroyd, Augustus John, London,
1996, p.536-7.