The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Interior

1915

Gwen John

(British, 1876–1939)
England, 20th century
oil on canvas
Unframed: 33 x 24.2 cm (13 x 9 1/2 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1982.6
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

The teapot depicted in this interior is a brown betty, a traditional, British-made teapot known for its red clay construction, distinctive round shape, and brown Rockingham glaze, which is believed to enhance tea flavor and heat retention.

Description

Gwen John worked slowly and meticulously, producing fewer than 200 paintings during her lifetime. Like this quiet interior with a table, teapot, and cups, her works were invariably small in size, muted in palette, and restrained in mood. About her life and art, she wrote to a friend, “I may never have anything to express, except this desire for a more interior life.” This is one of a series of four paintings of the same subject; the other versions are in the collections of the National Museum of Wales, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
  • sold in 1916 to John Quinn (New York sale 1927). A. Leven, New York. (Davis & Langdale, New York).
  • Henning, Edward B. “New Paintings by Four Artists from Britain.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 10 (December 1982): 311–323. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 310-312, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3–55. Reproduced: p. 19; Mentioned: p. 51, no. 29 www.jstor.org
    Sackerlotzky, Rotraud. “Gwen John: Interior: The Brown Teapot.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 4 (April 1988): 98–111. Mentioned: p. 98-111; Reproduced: Cover www.jstor.org
  • Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; April 10 - July 21, 2004. "Tracing Light: Garry Fabian Miller Photographs"". No exhibition catalogue.
    Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).
    The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).
  • {{cite web|title=Interior|url=false|author=Gwen John|year=1915|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.6