Christopher Wood

John Christopher "Kit" Wood (7 April 1901 – 21 August 1930) was an English painter born in Knowsley, near Liverpool.

Biography

Early life Christopher Wood was born in Knowsley to Doctor Lucius and Clare Wood. He was educated at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, then briefly flirted with medicine and architecture at Liverpool University before pursuing an artistic career.

Artistic career At Liverpool University, Wood met Augustus John, who encouraged him to be a painter. The French collector Alphonse Kahn invited him to Paris in 1920. From 1921 he trained as a painter at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he met Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Georges Auric and Diaghilev.

In April 1929, Wood held a solo exhibition at Tooth's Gallery in Bond Street, London where he met Lucy Wertheim at a private view. She purchased a picture and soon became one of his biggest supporters, buying up his work.

In May 1930, he had a largely unsuccessful exhibition with Nicholson at the Georges Bernheim Gallery in Paris. In June and July he made a second sojourn to Brittany to create new work. Later in July Wertheim travelled to meet Wood in Paris, to choose the paintings for a one-man show that would be the opening exhibition at her new Wertheim Gallery in October.

Personal life Wood was bisexual. In the early summer of 1921, Wood met José Antonio Gandarillas Huici (1887–1970), a Chilean diplomat who was the only son of Chilean Senator José Antonio Gandarillas and his wife Rosa, sister of Eugenia Errázuriz. Gandarillas, a married homosexual fourteen years older than Wood, lived a glamorous life partly financed by gambling. Their relationship lasted through Wood's life, surviving his affair with Jeanne Bourgoint. In 1927 his plans to elope and marry heiress Meraud Guinness were frustrated by her parents whereupon he required emotional support from Winifred Nicholson. (Meraud went on to marry Chilean painter Álvaro Guevara in 1929.)

Death and commemoration By 1930, painting frantically in preparation for his Wertheim exhibition in London, Wood became psychotic and began carrying a revolver. On 21 August, he travelled to meet his mother and sister for lunch at The County Hotel in Salisbury and to show them a selection of his latest paintings. After saying goodbye, he jumped under a train at Salisbury railway station, although in deference to his mother's wishes, it was reported as an accident.

Christopher Wood is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church in Broad Chalke. His gravestone was carved by fellow artist and sculptor Eric Gill.

Although his planned exhibition at the Wertheim gallery was cancelled on his death, a posthumous exhibition was held in February 1931. This was followed by an exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery in 1932.

The 1938 Venice Biennale included some of his paintings, and later the Redfern Gallery (part of the New Burlington Galleries) compiled a major retrospective.