Editing Augustus John (section)

==Early life==
Born in [[Tenby]], at 11, 12 or 13 The Esplanade, now known as The Belgrave Hotel, [[Pembrokeshire]], John was the younger son and third of four children.<ref name="Beeb">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/art/pages/gwen_augustus_john.shtml |title=Wales arts: Augustus John|date=10 January 2011|website=BBC Wales|access-date=13 November 2020}}</ref> His father was Edwin William John, a Welsh solicitor; his mother, Augusta Smith (1848&ndash;1884), from a long line of Sussex master plumbers,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=991tT3wSot0C&q=augustus+john&pg=PA251|title=Makers of Modern Culture|first=Justin|last=Wintle|date=26 June 2002|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415265836|via=Google Books|page=251}}</ref> died when he was six, but not before inculcating a love of drawing in both Augustus and his older sister [[Gwen John|Gwen]].<ref>Easton, Malcolm, and Holroyd, Michael: ''The Art of Augustus John'', page 1. David R. Godine, 1975.</ref> At the age of seventeen he briefly attended the Tenby School of Art, then left Wales for London, studying at the [[Slade School of Art]], [[University College London]]. He became the star pupil of drawing teacher [[Henry Tonks]] and even before his graduation he was considered the most talented draughtsman of his generation.<ref>As witness "The legendary Slade acclamation, 'There was a man sent from God, whose name was John'". Easton and Holroyd, page 2.</ref> His sister, Gwen was with him at the Slade and became an important artist in her own right.<ref>One of "a bevy of talented girls" there at the time. Easton and Holroyd, page 2.</ref> In the 1890s, John lodged in studios at [[Tite Street]], [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp102-106 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 2004 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref>

In 1897, John hit submerged rocks diving into the sea at Tenby, suffering a serious head injury; the lengthy convalescence that followed seems to have stimulated his adventurous spirit and accelerated his artistic growth.<ref name="Beeb"/><ref>Easton and Holroyd, page 2.</ref> In 1898, he won the [[Slade Prize]] with ''Moses and the Brazen Serpent.'' John afterward studied independently in Paris where he seems to have been influenced by [[Pierre Puvis de Chavannes]].<ref>Easton and Holroyd, page 13.</ref>
[[Image:Augustus John - Yeats.jpg|thumb|''[[William Butler Yeats|W.B. Yeats]]'' (1907)]] The need to support [[Ida Nettleship]] (1877–1907), whom he married in 1901, led him to accept a post teaching art at the University of Liverpool.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cole |first1=Dani |title=The last bohemian, enthralled by Liverpool |url=https://www.livpost.co.uk/p/the-last-bohemian?s=r |work=www.livpost.co.uk}}</ref>

[[File:Grace Westry by Augustus John 1897.jpg|thumb|Chalk drawing of Grace Westry by Augustus John 1897]]