Salesman John

Last week Augustus John held a one-man show in London. Everyone knew that he wanted to raise money but most dealers were doubtful. They were thinking of the "Artists' Own Exhibition," at which the contributors agreed to sell for the highest bid that was placed, in a sealed envelope, under a painting. Some of the best painters in England sold their canvases for $5; a painting by Sir John Lavery went for $37. But Augustus John, that swaggering British Van Dyke with his great soft hat and his little sharp beard, is a shrewd business man as well as a capable painter; he knew that when people are watched they are generous but that the offers one seals up in privy envelopes are apt to be mean. His show brought him $25,000, with a top price of $7,500 for a portrait of Princess Bibesco (Lord Asquith's daughter)--returns that have only been surpassed, among contemporary painters, by Sargent.