Sergeant, John (1937-2010)

John Sergeant was born in London in 1937, after the War the family moved to Faversham in Kent. He lived in Faversham and other locations in the county before making his final move to Wales in 1983. From 1954 to 1957 John studied at the College of Art in Canterbury. It was during this period he met the acclaimed artist John Ward, who was to become a lifelong friend and supporter. In 1959, with Ward’s encouragement, John entered the Royal Academy Schools, where in 1962, his final year, he won the drawing prize and married a fellow student, Carolyn Cann. Carolyn is now highly esteemed for her carefully arranged still lives. There are some examples of Carolyn Sergeant’s work for sale on our website.

John pursued his career to teach at Canterbury College of Art, and the Art Schools at Dover and Folkestone. He was greatly inspired by the 1981 exhibition of Interiors at Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, and he went on to secure commissions to make a series of room portraits, visiting Castle Coole, Stowell Park and Deene Park. The drawings he made of Erddig were acquired by the National Trust. The renowned London art dealer, Sir Jack Baer was a great proponent of John’s work, which he frequently exhibited at the Hazlitt gallery. Exhibitions of John’s work were also held at the Mass Gallery in Clifford Street, culminating in 1992 with a show of works done in Prague, where he accompanied the Prince of Wales on an official visit. HRH The Prince of Wales first noticed John’s work at the National Trust exhibition, The Long Perspective, at Agnews in 1987, in which the artist showed drawings and watercolours of Errdig House in Wales. The Prince asked him to do some drawings for his book, A Vision of Britain, in 1989 and invited him to stay at Sandringham the following year to make a record of several large barns on the estate. John accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales to Prague from 6 to 10 May 1991, the focus of the trip was architectural heritage. In 1994 at the Hazlitt gallery John’s work was shown in “Three Contemporary Masters” alongside that of John Ward and Jehan Daly. John was interested in other artists, past and present and kept an extensive library of reference books in his studio, he greatly admired the works of Ingres, Fuseli and Menzel, and more modern painters such as Bawden, Brockhurst and Ravilious, were some of his favourites. He had a great knowledge and respect for other artists and was especially keen to collect works by Allan Gwynne Jones, whom he knew and admired.

Over the years John had perfected his style and technique, mostly using charcoal estompé on Ingres paper. He also used coloured pastels and conté crayon, sometimes with small touches of Chinese white. He was a keen observer and loved to spend his spare time in antique shops and auctions where he would often find objects to draw. An exhibition catalogue of his work: “John Sergeant recent drawings”, held at Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 8 November to 1 December 2000, illustrates the full range and diversity of his genre. The quizzical and eccentric nature of John’s character comes to life in many of his compositions, such as, Variation on a Theme II. Cat.62. The drawing shows a mask precariously balanced on top of a finial of an old coffee pot, to the right an open box reveals a doll, hanging above the doll is a photograph of an exotic dancer. John’s technical ability is second to none while his compositions can provide us with a sense of mystery and humour.