Artists, Siblings, Visionaries

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction

By: Judith Mackrell

Narrated by: Deryn Edwards

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-fiction

'Outstanding' - The Guardian
'Superb' - The Telegraph
'A must read' - Anne Sebba
'Lively' - The Times

They seemed to be polar opposites . . .

Augustus: vivid, volatile and promiscuous. He was a hero among romantics and bohemians, celebrated as one of the great British talents of his generation.

Gwen’s art was magnificent, but she was also more reserved, and as a woman she struggled for the recognition which has only come to her now, years after her death.

Artists, Siblings, Visionaries is a riveting story of love, infidelity, betrayal, and of two extraordinary siblings whose art and lives subverted society’s expectations.

Critic reviews

Wonderfully conjures the siblings’ radical lives and the changing world they inhabited . . . Judith Mackrell’s splendid double biography, does full justice to each of these prodigious talents.

Outstanding . . . Mackrell approaches her subjects with an almost novelistic sensibility. (Jonathan Jones)

This is a must read . . . a deeply moving account of a family bursting with talent (Anne Sebba, author of The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz)

Judith Mackrell has done an incredible job in bringing to life the stories of these two great artists (Anthony D’Offay)

Superb . . . a fine portrait of these two artists. (Oliver Soden)

Absorbing . . . Mackrell says in her opening pages, if Gus and Gwen were 'admirable or awful'. By the end of this haunting book they seem admirable in their awfulness. (Frances Wilson)

A thoroughly researched and effortlessly written account of the extraordinary lives of Augustus and Gwen John, encompassing painting, of course, but also obsessive love, infidelity, betrayal, family, sibling rivalry and relationships, and how they both subverted society’s expectations. A fantastic read - the pages virtually turned themselves (Fanny Blake)

This dream of a book lures us back to that most fascinating world, that of Gwen and Augustus John (Louisa Young)

Lively . . . nuanced.

Mackrell is skilled at suspenseful structuring. The stories of their lives play out like a moralising Victorian tale, Augustus appearing to take the broad and easy way while Gwen, on the narrow path, finds greater artistic rewards . . . compelling. (Tanya Harrod)