Another chapter of my book is about August John’s famous portrait of Suggia.
Edward Hudson commissioned this portrait as an engagement gift for Suggia. When the engagement was broken off, Suggia and John decided that they still wanted to go forward with the project. The painting was begun in 1920 and completed and first exhibited in 1923. Suggia said that she actually played the cello while she sat for the portrait in John’s studio, and that perhaps accounts for the very dynamic and dramatic quality of the portrait.
Suggia was already famous when John’s portrait was begun, and the public exhibition of the portrait made her even more of a celebrity. Today we are accustomed to live in a world ruled by images and icons. The stars and celebrities of today carefully control the image that is presented because image is everything; image is reality. In Suggia’s day the world was a little more innocent about the power of images, and I think that neither Suggia herself nor anyone else anticipated the huge impact that this painting had on her career. For the rest of her life she was described as the subject of the famous painting by Augustus John.
ANITA MERCIER