Charlotte Johnson Wahl
Charlotte Johnson Wahl | |
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| Born | Charlotte Offlow Fawcett 29 May 1942 Oxford, England |
| Died | 13 September 2021 (aged 79) London, England |
| Alma mater | Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford |
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Charlotte Maria Offlow Johnson Wahl (née Fawcett; 29 May 1942[1] – 13 September 2021)[2][3] was a British artist.[4] She was the mother of Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom since 2019, along with journalist Rachel Johnson and politician Jo Johnson.
Early life and education
Born Charlotte Offlow Fawcett in Oxford, Charlotte Johnson Wahl was the daughter of Frances (née Lowe) and James Fawcett.[5] She was the granddaughter of Americans Elias Avery Lowe, a palaeographer of Lithuanian Jewish descent,[6] and Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator. She read English at Oxford University, and was the first married female undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall.[7] She interrupted her studies to visit the United States with her husband Stanley Johnson whom she met at Oxford and married in Marylebone, London, in 1963. She later returned and was awarded a second-class honours degree.[8]
Paintings
Johnson Wahl was recorded as having "made her name as a professional portrait painter" for Crispin Tickell, Joanna Lumley, Jilly Cooper, Simon Jenkins, and others, but she also painted landscapes which have been described as echoing the Vorticist style.[9]
Her shows at the Maudsley Hospital in London in 1974, in Brussels in 1970s, and at the Gavin Graham Gallery in London in 2004 were sold out. A retrospective exhibition of her work at Mall Galleries in London in 2015 was also successful.[10]
Her paintings sold for £1,000 to £5,000.[11] Two of Wahl's paintings are in the collection of the Bethlem Museum of the Mind; another two are in the collections of Oxford University colleges.[12]
Personal life
Johnson Wahl was the mother of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former MP Jo Johnson (now Baron Johnson of Marylebone), journalist Rachel Johnson, and entrepreneur Leo Johnson. She and Stanley Johnson divorced in 1979. Johnson Wahl then married American professor Nicholas Wahl in 1988, but was widowed in 1996. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 40.[8]
In 2015, the Evening Standard referred to Johnson Wahl as "left-wing", with her daughter Rachel stating that her father Stanley "tends to marry socialists." Rachel noted that her mother was "the only red in the village when we lived on Exmoor".[13]
During Boris Johnson's speech to the Conservative Party conference in October 2019, he disclosed that his mother voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.[14]
Johnson Wahl died at St Mary's Hospital in London on 13 September 2021, at the age of 79.[15]
References
- ^ "Charlotte Johnson Wahl, painter with an original vision who was the 'genius' of the Johnson family and mother of the PM – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
- ^ "Charlotte Maria Offlow JOHNSON WAHL". Personal Appointments. Companies House.
- ^ Furness, Hannah (13 September 2021). "Boris Johnson's mother dies aged 79". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ "Charlotte Johnson-Wahl profile". The Times. 15 May 2008. p. 15.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ Interview: Boris Johnson – my Jewish credentials Archived 19 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Jewish Chronicle, Daniella Peled, April 2008
- ^ "Boris Johnson's mother dies aged 79". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ a b Killen, Mary (March 2015). "Boris Johnson's mother on her brilliant brood". Tatler. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ Jones, Jonathan (15 May 2008). "What would Boris's artist mum say about his train booze ban?". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
- ^ Guy, Jack (14 September 2021). "Artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl, mother of UK Prime Minister, dies age 79". CNN. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Julia (17 May 2008). "Boris Johnson, by his mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
- ^ Charlotte Johnson Wahl paintings, BBC Your Paintings; accessed 13 September 2021
- ^ "Sleeping with the enemy: meet London's politically cloven couples". Evening Standard. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ^ Devlin, Kate (3 October 2019). "My mother voted to leave the EU, says Boris Johnson". The Times. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ Wright, Oliver (14 September 2021). "Boris Johnson's artist mother dies at 79 after living with Parkinson's". The Times. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
External links
- Charlotte Johnson Wahl—Home of Johnson Wahl's 2015 exhibition
- Mall Galleries: Charlotte Johnson Wahl—Mall Galleries on Johnson Wahl
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| General | |
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- 1942 births
- 2021 deaths
- 20th-century British women artists
- 20th-century English painters
- 20th-century English people
- 20th-century English women
- 21st-century British women artists
- 21st-century English painters
- 21st-century English women
- Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
- Daughters of knights
- English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
- English people of Russian-Jewish descent
- English portrait painters
- English women painters
- Parents of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
- People with Parkinson's disease