‘I may never have anything to express, except this desire for a more interior life,’, remarked Gwen John in a letter to a friend. The Welsh artist, who established herself in Paris after graduating from the Slade in 1898, spent most of her life pursuing this ideal by painting other women – subjects who became a conduit for John to revel in her inner self. More piercingly, at times she would insert herself into these muted pictures. The model’s face would be painted over, replaced with hers, marking an unconventional approach to self-portraiture. Like John, the other artists in this exhibition (a multigenerational group nearing 30) contemplate how the most private parts of ourselves, or others, might be portrayed.
