0:00:02 > 0:00:06I'm on a wonderful Welsh adventure, as I discover more about
0:00:06 > 0:00:10four outstanding artists influenced by this great land.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14During the series, as a tribute to them,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17I'll be creating drawings and paintings inspired by their art.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22And I have to create in ways I've never done before.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26And when it's all finished, I'll probably turn to you
0:00:26 > 0:00:28and I'll say,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31- "Can you tell what it is yet?" - HE LAUGHS
0:00:48 > 0:00:49It's a glorious Pembrokeshire day
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and we've just arrived at the little seaside town of Tenby
0:00:52 > 0:00:57on the trail of one of Wales's most respected and celebrated artists.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03And his personal story is one of the most exciting and interesting in British art history.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09It's full of fantastic creative passions,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11wild Bohemian parties,
0:01:11 > 0:01:16and some pretty intense personal shenanigans, as well.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19It's the story of Augustus John.
0:01:20 > 0:01:27In the 1930s, Augustus John was hailed as one of Britain's most talented artists.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29The great and the good would pay handsomely
0:01:29 > 0:01:32to be captured in oils by the old master.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36It was once said of John, "He can draw like a god."
0:01:36 > 0:01:40He was a towering archetype of the Bohemian artist -
0:01:40 > 0:01:41wild and promiscuous.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46It was said, "He was driven to draw the women he bedded
0:01:46 > 0:01:49"and bed the women he drew."
0:01:49 > 0:01:52My mission is to try and discover
0:01:52 > 0:01:55why Augustus John's private indiscretions seem to have overshadowed
0:01:55 > 0:01:59his rightful place in the art history books.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01It's going to be a really challenging journey.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05I'm going to have to unravel quite a few myths, cut through the bunkum,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08and concentrate on which elements of John's flamboyant life
0:02:08 > 0:02:13and his magnificent art I'm going to use in my tribute to the great man.
0:02:13 > 0:02:14Wish me luck.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23"You may travel the world over but you will find nothing more beautiful.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28"It is so restful, so colourful and so unspoilt."
0:02:28 > 0:02:32That's how Augustus John described his home town of Tenby.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37It is certainly a jewel - a glorious, natural harbour
0:02:37 > 0:02:43with medieval walls and stunning pastel-coloured Georgian terraces.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Born in 1878, Augustus John and his elder sister Gwen
0:02:47 > 0:02:52grew up here in Victoria House, Victoria Street, Tenby.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Come to think of it, everything about their childhood
0:02:55 > 0:02:56was totally Victorian.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Their mother Augusta was kind and caring,
0:03:00 > 0:03:08and her fascination with art and drawing soon turned young Gwen and Augustus into budding artists.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Sadly, she died when the children were very young,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15so they were brought up by their stern Victorian father, Edwin.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18There's a saying in the art world
0:03:18 > 0:03:22that great art always springs from unhappiness.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Well, with Gwen and Augustus John,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27they had unhappiness by the bucket-load, growing up here.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Augustus once wrote that life was "gloom by day and horror by night".
0:03:34 > 0:03:37But sadly, it was the tragic loss of a loving mother
0:03:37 > 0:03:42and the influence of a cold father, a man they both hated,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46that did most to shape their lives, their personalities,
0:03:46 > 0:03:51their relationships and their art for the rest of their lives.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Desperate to escape, young budding artists, Gwen and Augustus,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58would head off to Tenby's wonderful beaches
0:03:58 > 0:04:03and ply their trade of selling sketches of tourists for a bob a go.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And that gave ME an idea - perhaps I could try plying mine as an entertainer.
0:04:09 > 0:04:15MEN SING # Men of Harlech in the hollow
0:04:15 > 0:04:21# Do ye hear like rushing billow... #
0:04:21 > 0:04:25I met up with Tenby's wonderfully talented Male Voice Choir
0:04:25 > 0:04:28who were collecting for a good cause,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and I thought I'd try them out on a rather less formal Men of Harlech.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38# Romans came across the channel
0:04:38 > 0:04:43# All dressed up in tin and flannel
0:04:43 > 0:04:48# Half a pint of wode per man
0:04:48 > 0:04:53# Oh, dress us more than these... #
0:04:53 > 0:04:55APPLAUSE
0:04:57 > 0:04:59That seems to have gone down better than I thought it would.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05I must say, I love Tenby.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10But sadly, and not surprisingly, given their painful childhood,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Augustus and his sister Gwen grew up to dislike their home town's charms.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Augustus now called it "smugly insignificant"
0:05:19 > 0:05:24and couldn't wait to get out of the place and away from his dreaded father.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30In 1894, Augustus deserted Tenby for the bright lights of London.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Only 16, he enrolled at the highly-respected Slade School of Art.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Augustus was shy and awkward and was described as a "methodical" student.
0:05:41 > 0:05:48After a year, he'd failed to shine and was struggling to find his own individual style of painting.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56In the summer of 1895, Augustus John's life was to change forever.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00And remarkably, it was the Pembrokeshire coast right here
0:06:00 > 0:06:04which was to have the most dramatic impact upon him - quite literally.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08Augustus dived off Giltar Point head first...
0:06:11 > 0:06:12..hit a rock,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17and, as legend has it, he emerged "a bloody genius".
0:06:17 > 0:06:20When he came back to the Slade in the autumn of that year,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22he had transformed himself.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Gypsy hat at a rakish angle,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28flamboyant silk scarf at the throat, single gold earring.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And sporting an arty beard. Quite right.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37But the most important thing was that his painting had blossomed,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and the legend of Augustus John had begun.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Great Bohemian, great lover, great artist.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Actually, it was probably having to spend three months recuperating with his father
0:06:55 > 0:06:57that finally kick-started young Augustus.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01He rushed back to the Slade with a new fire in his belly,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05sketching and painting like a man possessed.
0:07:08 > 0:07:15By the fourth year, John had won the Slade Prize with his Moses And The Brazen Serpent.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19It was hailed as a masterpiece, and people began to recognise
0:07:19 > 0:07:22the birth of one of the world's greatest living artists.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Sister Gwen was also becoming known as a painter,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32and it wasn't long before she joined her brother at the Slade.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Augustus had fallen love with student Ida Nettleship.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41They were soon married and she gave birth to the first of their five children.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Augustus John had a remarkable appetite for women -
0:07:45 > 0:07:48throughout his life he had numerous affairs.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52But he was always searching for his ideal mistress
0:07:52 > 0:07:57and he spun all his romantic fantasies around this one woman -
0:07:57 > 0:08:00office typist, Dorothy McNeill.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02He nicknamed her Dorelia.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Her classical features were all the rage at the time.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10John was overwhelmed and consumed with desire for Dorelia,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15and what started as a passionate affair soon became a life-long obsession.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Augustus John once said, "Woman is beauty.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26"All artists love beauty, therefore all artists must love women".
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Well, he certainly did that.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Poor Ida.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36She either accepted Dorelia into the marriage or she lost Augustus.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41In fact, she rather liked Dorelia, so they all moved in together.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Augustus would go on to father a total of seven children
0:08:45 > 0:08:49with both Ida and Dorelia, and many more from his numerous affairs.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53For late Victorian Britain, it was a scandal.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05It's time for the Rolf-Mobile to hit the open road for another very important visit
0:09:05 > 0:09:08before I start my tribute painting.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13If I'm going to do the old master justice, I'm quite keen to see
0:09:13 > 0:09:16some Augustus John masterpieces up close and personal.
0:09:18 > 0:09:24The Tate Warehouse in London have agreed to unwrap a few Augustus John classic paintings
0:09:24 > 0:09:28for myself and art historian Michael Holroyd to gloat over.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30What a privilege.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Ah, I know that image.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35That's the one.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40This is Dorelia, painted in 1905-1906.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I had no idea it was that big.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Yes. It's remarkable when you think
0:09:44 > 0:09:47that she was really a junior secretary,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52and suddenly he brought her out of her class, gave her her new identity
0:09:52 > 0:09:55and it became very fashionable to have that sort of clothing.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Women copied her.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01What was she really like as a person, do you think?
0:10:01 > 0:10:05- Well, you knew her, didn't you? - I - I met her much later than this.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09What she had was serenity.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12If you had some terrible problem and you came to her,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15you wouldn't get an intellectual answer, a solution,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17but you would feel much better about it.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19She had calm.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22The story is that he overtook her in the street, looked back,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and never looked away again.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26THEY LAUGH
0:10:26 > 0:10:28What a good liar.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Oh boy, oh boy.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38There it is, the legendary Lawrence.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43I love the depth of that shadow there.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Makes you feel you know him, you know his...
0:10:46 > 0:10:49- The thrust-forward bottom lip and the...- Yes.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54Anybody who thinks of Lawrence of Arabia, has this image in mind.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Why do you think it is that Augustus John
0:10:56 > 0:10:59has disappeared from the history books, as it were?
0:10:59 > 0:11:03I think it was felt that he was TOO famous
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and he needed to be taken down a peg or two.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Also, that people felt that Gwen John was being overlooked.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12It wasn't Augustus who did that,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14but it was a fact that she was overlooked.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Posthumously, people have wanted to go more to HER pictures,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20which have so much feeling in them,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24and put her in his place of fame, really.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Well, my own view is they are not rivals.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29You can find out about one by looking at the other.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39I must say, it's a great shame to discover that the history books
0:11:39 > 0:11:46don't truly represent the splendour of Augustus John's magnificent portraits.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Politicians, celebrities, anybody who was anybody
0:11:50 > 0:11:54would pay handsomely to be captured in oils by the King of Bohemia.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Novelist Thomas Hardy, on seeing himself painted by John in 1923,
0:11:59 > 0:12:04remarked, "I don't know if that's how I look but that's how I feel."
0:12:05 > 0:12:10This great painting by Augustus John is of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13They were a couple of characters, those two.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15They were very similar in temperament -
0:12:15 > 0:12:17moody, talented, passionate.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21They both loved a pint or six, or seven.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24And they both loved women, of course.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27And it was a tussle over one particular woman that almost
0:12:27 > 0:12:29proved to be their undoing.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32At the time, Augustus John was painting
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and bedding young Caitlin Macnamara.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41Well, Thomas got off with Caitlin, didn't he? And Augustus was furious.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44They had a drunken punch-up outside a Carmarthen pub
0:12:44 > 0:12:48which left Thomas spread out cold in the gutter.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Dylan Thomas finally picked himself up, bruised and battered,
0:12:52 > 0:12:57and they all met up here in the lovely grounds of Laugharne Castle in Carmarthenshire,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01where the stage was set for a most extraordinary farce.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Here are two of Wales' greatest talents, both blind drunk,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08arguing it out over a women.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Various eye witnesses told of how Augustus and Dylan
0:13:13 > 0:13:18ran off around the castle on a theatrical brawl with a distraught Caitlin in hot pursuit.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Augustus John's biographer Michael Holroyd describes what happened next.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27"Dylan turned up and the stage was set.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"No sooner had Dylan gone out by one of the three entrance doors
0:13:30 > 0:13:33"than John would appear through another.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38"A tremendous atmosphere of melodrama built up.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41"Caitlin was on stage for most of the performance,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44"but when the theatre demanded it, she would make a quick exit,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46"while the two men made their entrances."
0:13:51 > 0:13:55"The timing throughout was remarkable,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58"and there were many rhetorical monologues in the high-flown style.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00"To the spectators, wiping their eyes,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02"the outcome appeared uncertain."
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Well, Augustus won the fight, but Dylan won the fair maid.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Not long after, Caitlin and Dylan were married.
0:14:10 > 0:14:17Strangely enough, Augustus John and Dylan Thomas remained firm lifelong friends.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19What a pair.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31I think I'm finally getting inside the mind of the great Augustus John.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34And I don't think I can put off any longer my tribute painting.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38I've made a few sketches, preliminary ideas,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41I've got ideas running round and round in my mind,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44but I think it's high time that I planted my easel
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and committed some oil paint to some canvas.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51And I don't mind telling you, I'm a bit nervous.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07And I'll use that line for the eyebrows.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Lovely eyebrows going to be.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15That's a better proportion, yes.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It's got to go about there somewhere.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23I've got my canvas all set up in my studio,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27which looks remarkably like my garden next to the river.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32And we've got a wonderful model today, young Lauren.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34And I've got to tell you,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37you look so like Dorelia
0:15:37 > 0:15:40that it's really quite unnerving.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Nice unnerving.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45I've got a simple sort of a background here,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49like a Welsh mountain background,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51and to give me some assistance,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56Lauren's going to read out some little words of wisdom and advice
0:15:56 > 0:16:00from the great Augustus John himself on how best to paint a portrait.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04I hope it helps me.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Off you go, Lauren.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08"Make a puddle of paint on your palette
0:16:08 > 0:16:13"consisting of the predominant colour of your model's face, ranging from dark to light."
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I've sort of done that, yeah.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19"Having sketched the features, be most careful of the proportions,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22"apply a skin of paint from your preparation,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25"only varying the mixture with enough red for the lips and cheeks
0:16:25 > 0:16:27"and grey for the eyeballs."
0:16:27 > 0:16:29- Have you done that? - I haven't done that, no.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33I'd better do some red for the lips. Yeah, keep going.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"If you stick to your puddle, assuming that it was correctly prepared,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40"your portrait should be finished in an hour or so,
0:16:40 > 0:16:45"and be ready for obliteration before the paint dries, when you start afresh."
0:16:46 > 0:16:48I like it.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Get rid of your painting and start again.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Let me do a bit more. OK, thanks for that.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56I'll just darken all that for the time being.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Well, I've taken on his advice about portrait painting
0:17:01 > 0:17:06and I'm going to try and do Augustus John in a different style.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10And to do that I'm going to have to concentrate on an artist
0:17:10 > 0:17:15who has spent far too long in the shadow of the great Augustus John.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20In fact, it's his sister, Gwen.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27It was her life in France that was to have
0:17:27 > 0:17:30the biggest impact on Gwen John and her art.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36In Paris, she rubbed shoulders with the greatest French artists of her time.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Unlike her flamboyant brother's work, Gwen's art was muted
0:17:40 > 0:17:42and more introverted.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Her paintings used simple brush strokes, subtle tones,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47and pastel colours.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52While her beloved brother Augustus continued his numerous affairs,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57it was now Gwen and Dorelia's turn to fall in love.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00They shacked up together in a Paris flat
0:18:00 > 0:18:05and Gwen set to work painting several sensitive portraits of Dorelia,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07which many believe are her finest works.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12But Gwen's cosy relationship with Dorelia didn't last long -
0:18:12 > 0:18:17Dorelia fled to Belgium with another man.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Letters flew between, Gwen, Augustus, Ida and Dorelia
0:18:20 > 0:18:25and a saga unfolded that would rival any modern day soap opera.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31When Dorelia left, all three of the Johns were distraught.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36But it was Ida who was determined to get Dorelia back for her husband Augustus.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41And she wrote to him, "I love you and what you want I want passionately.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45"She," that's Dorelia, "She shall have pleasure with you.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48"By God, I will haunt her until she comes back."
0:18:49 > 0:18:52But it was actually Gwen that did all the pleading.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55She wrote to Dorelia,
0:18:55 > 0:19:00"You are necessary for Augustus's development and for Ida's.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02- "Dorelia, you know- I- love you.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08"It is the greatest crime to take anyone's happiness away," she pleaded.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12They were all madly in love with Dorelia,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15but it was Gwen's pleading that tipped the balance.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Eventually Dorelia came back to all three of them.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21What a palaver.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Next on my journey, I'm headed to North Wales
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and the spectacular Snowdonian mountains on the trail of
0:19:34 > 0:19:39another important, but little known, Augustus John obsession.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43This time, believe it or not, it wasn't a woman,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48but the stunning Welsh mountains that John had fallen hopelessly in love with.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52In particular, the twin peaks of Arenig Fawr.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Rough translation - the Great High Ground.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04By 1911, Augustus John's portraits were legendary
0:20:04 > 0:20:07but he just didn't do landscapes.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10The greatest influence on John's new artistic direction
0:20:10 > 0:20:13was fellow Welshman James Dickson Innes.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18When Innes brought John to Arenig Fawr Augustus wrote:
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"He was experiencing the scruples of a lover on introducing
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"a friend to his best girl."
0:20:25 > 0:20:30Augustus John and James Innes used to rent cottages similar to this - bit better repair of course -
0:20:30 > 0:20:34right here in the shadow of Arenig Fawr.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Spectacular.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40John and Innes would set out from here on their regular jaunts
0:20:40 > 0:20:43looking for the ideal spot and the perfect lighting conditions
0:20:43 > 0:20:47to capture the magnificence of Arenig.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And judging by the weather round here, speed was of the essence.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56To learn a bit more about how Augustus John fared,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00I met up with painter and art historian Keith Bowen.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05You come and stand here.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07- It's good.- I've only been on it a couple of hours.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11- You had some sunlight on there earlier, did you? - Yeah, that's right.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15I mean, now it's flat, but when you can pick up some drama,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17you crash it in as quick as you can.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21I guess the light changing all the time would be
0:21:21 > 0:21:24a militating factor in how quickly you have to paint.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25Well, that's it.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28I think John had been in Provence,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31painting in Provence where the light is fairly stable.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Here it's a different thing altogether.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39These boys were painting spontaneously, wet in wet, job done.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41And...
0:21:41 > 0:21:45And Innes was almost using it as if it was water colour.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47John was using it more opaquely.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51You look at it, you can see the speed of how he would work at it.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56How did Innes and John become so obsessed with painting
0:21:56 > 0:22:01this one chunk of outcropping rock up here, this mountain?
0:22:01 > 0:22:06John said he was never happier than when he was painting here.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09John said of himself, "I feel full of work."
0:22:10 > 0:22:13And John then said, about Innes,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17"That mountain, Arenig Fawr, was his sacred mountain.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22"And the midnight, the moorland that he'd walked off was his spiritual home."
0:22:22 > 0:22:24- Wow.- Very perceptive.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30At the time Augustus John's landscapes of Arenig were snubbed
0:22:30 > 0:22:34by the British establishment as "inartistic and talentless".
0:22:34 > 0:22:39But when they were shown in New York in an exhibition in 1913,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43they went down a storm.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I'm doing a tribute painting to Augustus John.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51What must I have in that painting, in your opinion?
0:22:52 > 0:22:54- Yes!- That!
0:22:54 > 0:22:56You've got to get it in. Look at this.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01This was a painting that he was doing over the period that he was here.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04And people said, "Oh, this is Provence."
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Look at the background.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08What's that there?
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Those are the twin peaks of Arenig Fawr.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15This has got to be part of what you're doing.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17I'm not making it difficult, don't worry.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Augustus John's love of Arenig lasted over two years
0:23:27 > 0:23:30before he abandoned landscape painting forever
0:23:30 > 0:23:33and returned to portraits.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36But many now consider John's Arenig Fawr paintings
0:23:36 > 0:23:40and his time in North Wales as his finest hour.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52I need to get those eyes looking absolutely fantastic.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56That's better.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02I think the first fence post can come in about there.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07ROLF CHUCKLES
0:24:08 > 0:24:11I hope you're already seeing the fact that that's
0:24:11 > 0:24:15already starting to look like a ghostly image of Augustus John.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Yes, looking like the man.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Well, I think I've got the right feeling of the landscape
0:24:24 > 0:24:27behind my portrait of Dorelia.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32You can probably recognise the twin peaks
0:24:32 > 0:24:36of that inspirational mountain Arenig Fawr
0:24:36 > 0:24:40that Augustus John was so keen on painting.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Now, I've got the rough tones of light and dark
0:24:45 > 0:24:47on Augustus John's ghostly face
0:24:47 > 0:24:51and I'm going to try and in some way
0:24:51 > 0:24:54get the pastel tones
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and the tiny little vertical brushstrokes
0:24:57 > 0:25:00that his sister Gwen used to do on her paintings.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02I'm going to try and do that there
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and see if I can... make that work.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I don't know. Wish me luck.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Gwen John spent the rest of her life in France
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and died there in 1939.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Ida died young, aged 30,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27after giving birth to their fifth child.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31And Dorelia and Augustus brought up all seven children.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34They stayed together for the rest of their lives.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38But behind the legend, what was the real man like?
0:25:38 > 0:25:42To answer that I need to find one of the last living descendents
0:25:42 > 0:25:44that knew Augustus John best.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46- Hi, Tristan.- Hi, Hello.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48In the wilds of Hampshire, I tracked down
0:25:48 > 0:25:53Augustus John's illegitimate son Tristan De Vere Cole.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56So tell me, what is your connection with the great Augustus John?
0:25:56 > 0:25:59There are many stories attached to Augustus,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03one of them being that whenever he walked down the King's Road, Chelsea,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07he'd pat any passing child on the head in case it was his.
0:26:07 > 0:26:08ROLF LAUGHS
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Well, I'm supposedly the last of those bastards.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- So that's my connection. - It's nice to meet you, sir.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17You're shaking the hand of a proper bastard.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20OK, OK. Show us around.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Oh, I'd love to show you around.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Tristan's mother Mavis first met Augustus in 1928.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30A few years later, she modelled for him and they began an affair,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and it wasn't long before she gave birth to Tristan.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37Today his house is a virtual shrine to his life growing up
0:26:37 > 0:26:40with Augustus and the John family.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43That's me by Augustus when I was eight.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Oh, gosh, aren't you like your mum?
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Well, yes, I think so. More like my mum than Augustus.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53What a fascinating childhood Tristan must have had.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56I asked him what was it like growing up with Augustus and Dorelia?
0:26:56 > 0:27:00I was lucky to be loved by both of them.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Everybody says, "Oh, gosh, it must have been very difficult with such a difficult man,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09"you know, a very irregular childhood." I say, not at all.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13We got on terribly well. He had his moods, mind you.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18There were times when the black dog, he did get depressed, very much so.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- And you'd step very carefully around him.- The whole household did.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25And the cook, aptly named Mrs Cake, said to my mother,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28she said, "Trouble with him is he's got too many brains
0:27:28 > 0:27:31"and they've all gone to his head."
0:27:32 > 0:27:36"Given another 100 years I'd become a very good painter,"
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Augustus once said.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Many believe in later life he felt angry and unfulfilled.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46He once muttered, "I wish I'd never left Wales."
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Before his death, Augustus spent hours staring at Gwen's paintings.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58And once said, "Fifty years from now I'll be known as the brother of Gwen John."
0:28:00 > 0:28:05The King of Bohemia died in 1961 aged 83.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Well, there you go, my tribute to Augustus and Gwen John,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25two of the most talented artists to come out of Wales.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29You read all these steamy stories about outrageous goings on,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32but maybe they were just searching for love and affection
0:28:32 > 0:28:36from all the different people that they met along the way.
0:28:36 > 0:28:37Who knows?
0:28:37 > 0:28:39One thing is for sure -
0:28:39 > 0:28:43they left us with a fantastic legacy of paintings.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47I think all I've got to do now is sign it.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd