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Artists, Siblings, Visionaries
- Author
- Judith Mackrell
- Narrator
- Deryn Edwards
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 19 June 2025
- Run Time
- 17 hours 7 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Biography: arts and entertainment, Individual artists, art monographs, History of art, Paintings and painting
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
What to expect
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.
Critics Review
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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.
Financial Times
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Outstanding . . . Mackrell approaches her subjects with an almost novelistic sensibility.
The Guardian
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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
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Judith Mackrell has done an incredible job in bringing to life the stories of these two great artists
Anthony D’Offay
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Superb . . . a fine portrait of these two artists.
Daily Telegraph
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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.
The Spectator
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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
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This dream of a book lures us back to that most fascinating world, that of Gwen and Augustus John
Louisa Young
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Lively . . . nuanced.
The Times
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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.
Literary Review
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
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5.0 5.0
Wow, what an amazing book - so thoroughly researched and beautifully rendered into a melancholic yet energising narrative. The narration is outstanding also - a joy to experience. Highly recommended!
forestcake 2026-08-10
Details
- Author
- Judith Mackrell
- Narrator
- Deryn Edwards
- Duration
- 17 hours 7 minutes
- Release Date
- 19 June 2025
- ISBN
- 9781529095876
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Biography: arts and entertainment, Individual artists, art monographs, History of art, Paintings and painting
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-fiction'Outstanding' - The Guardian'Superb' - The Telegraph'A must read' - Anne Sebba'Lively' - The TimesThey 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.
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