Augustus John

This painted plaster head is a study for a naturalistic bronze portrait head of the painter Augustus John (1878-1961), one cast of which is in the National Museum of Wales. The study, dating from 1967, also relates to the overlife-size full-length bronze figure of Augustus John by Roberts-Jones at Fordingbridge, Hampshire, erected in the same year. Roberts-Jones said that, like Rodin, he preferred to 'creep over the surface exploring it'. It can be seen as an example of the extent of Rodin's influence into the mid-twentieth century.