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Cecil Beaton photographer
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'She was like an altar on the move.'
Elizabeth Bowen on Edith Sitwell
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Showing posts with label Sitwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sitwell. Show all posts
looking again: a glimpse of Edith Sitwell
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a book can keep me busy for hours, even the most well worn.* some of the photographs of rooms, portraits, homes I've memorized-scrutinized, & though I am sure some -after 27 years- have changed hands or been demolished to be sure-they still capture my attention as if it were the first time.
this time SHE caught my eye.
I saw her hanging there.
None other than the Dame.
Edith Sitwell.
She is holding court in the lovingly cluttered library of her brother Sir Sacherevell Sitwell's Weston Hall. Friend Pavel Tchelitchew painted this portrait of Edith. The pair were great friends- Edith having a quite unrequited love for the homosexual Pavel. He certainly wasn't the kindest kind of friend when he painted this portrait. Edith would have been 48 then- as I figure- and seeing the many photographs of her during this period- she never appeared as Pavel paints her. Pavel obviously was trying to reach beyond the woman and conjure a medieval knight. Edith was a woman he felt insecure with & he missed the mark with this one. I don't think his mediocre talent captured the poet or the woman-though Edith championed him, because she loved him. Love makes you blind.
Edith never found the formidable Original man to her formidable Original self.
Along with the books, a lovely collection of blue opaline vases and like pieces fill the space. Apparently the Sitwell ladies typically inherited the home-passed down through the family since it was built around 1700. The house went to Sacheverell in the 1920's and was decorated with pieces from the house. More opaline pieces line the mantle and over it a wired bookcase holding valuable leather editions.
Edith's niece Susanna still lives at Weston Hall and Edith's great nephew William Sitwell has inherited many of her books. He also spent a year learning the hypnotic words of her Facade poems set to music.
'Looking through cupboards and wardrobes at Weston Hall, I come across examples of her clothes. Long flowing robes, gowns, turbans and other headgear, and huge colourful rings that adorned her long fingers.' (WSitwell)
He says of Facade : 'Some of the lines must be proclaimed at breakneck speed, and as I worked my way through the colourful, exotic language, the assonances and dissonances, I could almost feel her spirit conjuring up the figures of Sir Beelzebub and Black Mrs Behemoth, not to mention the satyrs, nymphs and others who appear. She wrote this early white rap in the 1920s, finessing it over the next 40 years, and it demonstrates her extraordinary, dextrous touch with the English language, and her musical abilities.'
A new book- Edith Sitwell Avant Garde Poet, English Genius by Richard Greene has been out for a few months & I am about ready to read on- The author suggests 'It is time to look again at Edith Sitwell.’
(interior pictures of Weston Hall from a book English Style-one of the first of my "big books" in 1984 at a price of $35.00 then, I think they may be more reasonable now. That still seems a lot to me-even now.)
portraits & Weston Hall, by Rex Whistler from The Sitwells
about Edith at little augury here
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a book can keep me busy for hours, even the most well worn.* some of the photographs of rooms, portraits, homes I've memorized-scrutinized, & though I am sure some -after 27 years- have changed hands or been demolished to be sure-they still capture my attention as if it were the first time.
this time SHE caught my eye.
I saw her hanging there.
None other than the Dame.
Edith Sitwell.
She is holding court in the lovingly cluttered library of her brother Sir Sacherevell Sitwell's Weston Hall. Friend Pavel Tchelitchew painted this portrait of Edith. The pair were great friends- Edith having a quite unrequited love for the homosexual Pavel. He certainly wasn't the kindest kind of friend when he painted this portrait. Edith would have been 48 then- as I figure- and seeing the many photographs of her during this period- she never appeared as Pavel paints her. Pavel obviously was trying to reach beyond the woman and conjure a medieval knight. Edith was a woman he felt insecure with & he missed the mark with this one. I don't think his mediocre talent captured the poet or the woman-though Edith championed him, because she loved him. Love makes you blind.
Edith never found the formidable Original man to her formidable Original self.
Along with the books, a lovely collection of blue opaline vases and like pieces fill the space. Apparently the Sitwell ladies typically inherited the home-passed down through the family since it was built around 1700. The house went to Sacheverell in the 1920's and was decorated with pieces from the house. More opaline pieces line the mantle and over it a wired bookcase holding valuable leather editions.
The pair of gilt mirrors hanging over the Chinese cabinets belonged to Edith too.
Sir Sacheverell Sitwell in the Weston library, 1952
photographed by Cecil Beaton
Weston Hall as painted by friend and frequent visitor Rex Whistler
'Looking through cupboards and wardrobes at Weston Hall, I come across examples of her clothes. Long flowing robes, gowns, turbans and other headgear, and huge colourful rings that adorned her long fingers.' (WSitwell)
He says of Facade : 'Some of the lines must be proclaimed at breakneck speed, and as I worked my way through the colourful, exotic language, the assonances and dissonances, I could almost feel her spirit conjuring up the figures of Sir Beelzebub and Black Mrs Behemoth, not to mention the satyrs, nymphs and others who appear. She wrote this early white rap in the 1920s, finessing it over the next 40 years, and it demonstrates her extraordinary, dextrous touch with the English language, and her musical abilities.'
A new book- Edith Sitwell Avant Garde Poet, English Genius by Richard Greene has been out for a few months & I am about ready to read on- The author suggests 'It is time to look again at Edith Sitwell.’
She is someone we look to often- and never for a moment have we forgotten her.
portraits & Weston Hall, by Rex Whistler from The Sitwells
about Edith at little augury here
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the Sitwell Equation
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how could it be otherwise?
image 1- the 18th century Sitwell children,John Singleton Copley 1787
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image 2- the Sitwell family estate Renishaw's Entrance to the Wilderness, photograph by Bill Brandt,1945, the images (the Wilderness-also known as Brockhill Wood, the statues are a warrior and an amazon.
image 3- Lady Ida Sitwell, the Sitwell's mother, painted by Sir William Blake Richmond, before marriage the Honourable Ida Denison,descended from the Plantagenet kings
image 4- Osbert (35), ( Edith (age 40) Sacheverell (30) 1927 by Cecil Beaton
Renishaw HERE
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Sitwell Sitting II
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more about Edith Sitwell on Monday-
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Dame Edith Sitwell
photographed by Jane Brown
for the Observer May 7 1959
This was taken for a series of articles entitled 'My Clothes and I'.
Dame Edith, that "throwback to the Plantagenets" as she likes to put it, sat erect in the corner of a cosy cretonne sofa. The sofa was in the television room of the London Ladies Club and her face lit it as the moon would illuminate a bus.
Her face is in fact as alien to the conventional human face as the moon is to an electric light bulb.
Her face is in fact as alien to the conventional human face as the moon is to an electric light bulb.
Observer 10 May 1959: Jane recalls: 'I felt such a novice. She was sitting almost in the dark and I didn't dare move her. I was pretty speechless. I wasn't one for talking but I must have seen something'.
-excerpted from the Observer.
more about Edith Sitwell on Monday-
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on Patience
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photograph Beaton
I am patient with stupidity
but not with those who are proud of it.
-Edith Sitwell
photograph Beaton
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about an Aesthete, Sitwell Sitting
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Sacheverell Sitwellphotograph by Snowdon
'Er, well . . . I was going to say myself.'
...the shrill, high note of the aesthetes determined to masquerade as geniuses whatever the evidence to the contrary. At least it can be said in Sacheverell Sitwell's defence that numbers of other people, principally members of his family, were keen to abet this delusion. As a poet, his sister Edith thought he was 'one of the greatest that our race has produced in the last 150 years'. (from the article by DJ Taylor linked above)
birth of a Dame
In honor of a favorite English Eccentric: EDITH SITWELL
September 7 1886- December 9 1964
anaglyph image from Kathy Fernleigh- here"The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth."
Dame Edith Sitwell
from Sitwell's autobiography, Taken Care Of, the Dame talks about her childhood pet, Peaky, a ravishing Peacock nonetheless. Her childhood was an unhappy one- the first child and a girl at that- She was a disappointment to her parents, especially her mother who bemoaned the child's strange appearance. An augur of the woman Edith became, her bond with the peacock continued until a female bird was purchased for Edith's pet. Jilted. For a while though, the peacock would await Edith's appearance and shriek at her with delight and accompany her for a stroll in the gardens. Edith wrapped her arm around the peacock's neck-
"I would go to the garden and we would walk, you might say, arm in arm. When asked why I loved him so, I answered, 'Because he's beautiful, and be cause he wears a crown!' "
"If it had not been for his crown, which made him slightly larger than me, we would have been the same height." es
An Indian Tale for Little Edith
the Princess & the Peacock
the Princess & the Peacock
image (here)Read more about Dame Edith Sitwell:
Genius in a Wimple TIME magazine 1955
Strictly old skool! guardian.co.uk
september 7 is also the Birthday of friend Sanford Peele-
who died December 15th, 2008
happy birthday SP
september 7 is also the Birthday of my grandfather George Joseph Cushwa
who died september 10, 1944
an AESTHETE'S LAMENT a "well read" portrait
What Books are on your Summer reading list?
A great design scholar examines every object in his home, from its provenance to the details of its acquisition, and ends up creating a moving portrait of his life.
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Conversation Pieces by Sacheverell Sitwell. I love portraits and this particular genre, portraits composed of two or more family members, doubles, triples, and quadruples the pleasure.
the Sitwells by Sargent
Ex-libris for Sacheverell Sitwell (1897- 1988)by John Piper, based on a monogram of Sitwell’s grandfather. Valentina by Kohle Yohannan. A fashion designer who still remains a mystery.
Nana by Emile Zola. So salacious and hermetic and lots of descriptions of truly vulgar interiors.
"Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco." zola E M Delafield's A Provincial Lady series of novels. Beaucoup de charme!
E M Delafield & Far too many plant and seed catalogues! I read and dream more than I actually order.
I have never and will never manage to do more than dip a toe into Proust. Which is why I never put it on any must-read list anymore! It’s so dense and so rich that I get bogged down after only a few chapters and have to clear my mental palate with a dose of Nancy Mitford.
"I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another." NM
Where do you read and when? Does the genre you are reading dictate the place you read?- in other words do you take just any old book to bed?
I read all the time and can be found dragging a book or magazine to the breakfast table, to my spouse’s everlasting chagrin. I tend to read gardening books when I’m in the country, those as well as country-house decorating books. But when I head to bed, I bring biographies for some reason.
I read all the time and can be found dragging a book or magazine to the breakfast table, to my spouse’s everlasting chagrin. I tend to read gardening books when I’m in the country, those as well as country-house decorating books. But when I head to bed, I bring biographies for some reason.
What does your nightstand look like? Or your side of the bed, floor, chair!
At present it is a small, round Syrian table piled high with books and topped with reading glasses. More books and magazines are deposited on the floor in some measure of disorder. I really should have something better than this.
(My own thoughts on a new look for the AESTHETE) 
giotto What is your all time Favorite Book for its sense of place?
Nothing beats Flaubert's “Madame Bovary” for atmosphere. You can practically hear the leaves in the trees rustling and see the dust churned up by carriages and wagons.
"And what is there to beat sitting by the fire of an evening with a book, when the lamp is lit and the wind beating against the window?... You forget everything... the hours slip by. Sitting still in your arm-chair, you can wander in strange places and make believe they are there before your eyes. Your thoughts become entwined in the story, dwelling on the details, or eagerly following the course of the adventure. You imagine you are the characters, and it seems to be 'your' heart that is throbbing beneath their raiment." - Gustave Flaubert, from Madame Bovary
What is your Security Blanket Book?
It’s the one book I take to bed whenever I am laid up with a cold or other illness. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all." from ALICE
THE PERFECT AESTHETE"S PERFECT ALICE Annie Leibovitz for Vogue
What is your favorite Genre? Why? What is your most recent purchase in this category?
Biographies and more biographies. I cannot get enough of reading about other people’s lives, loves, houses, dreams, hopes, and private torments. Most recently I received a copy of Francine du Plessix Gray’s biography of Madame de Staël, the great French intellectual and salon hostess, and I rushed straight through it, much faster than I had hoped. So I intend to start it over and try to savor rather than gulp. I also devour crime novels, especially the works of Henning Mankell. Oh, he’s good.
"Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it." Madame de Stael
Francine du Plessix Gray as a young woman What about Books you are reading for a second or third time? Why? Any disappointments on second reading?
I read everything multiple times, pulling out especial favourites when the weather is bad (rainy days in particular). If a book is good, it’s always good, so no disappointments here. Well, except the novels of Taylor Caldwell. I used to race through them in high school and now they seem so labored, creaky, and pretentious.
What is the seminal book in your field or your passion that you would recommend to young would be(s) of the same?
It never, ever fails to inspire- See HERE. "The best decoration in the world is a roomful of books."BB
Latest Obsession Author, Designer, Photographer writer?
Swedish crime novelist Henning Mankell. He can’t write enough books fast enough for me. I have half a mind to write and tell him so.
Henning Mankell on reading:
"It is a disgrace for the whole world that we in the year 2008 have yet to eradicate illiteracy on our planet. Still millions of children are forced to enter life without knowing how to read and write. Being a writer myself I know that there is only one symbolic book which truly matters: the ABC-book."
Book covers can be art- Do you have a favorite cover in your stacks?
Going out on a limb here –define LIBRARY in the nontraditional sense?
Any collection of books that contributes to the broadening of your viewpoint.
Any collection of books that contributes to the broadening of your viewpoint.
Image-Architectural Digest, December'79, photograph by Derry Moore. WELL SAID AESTHETE.
As I have mentioned in several posts- reading the AESTHETE's lament was a catalyst for my own decision to start Little Augury. I want to personally thank You for that and to ask that you please seriously consider hesitating before posting anymore Must Read Books for awhile- I can't keep up.
Dear READER, do you think the AESTHETE has read SISTER, The Life of Legendary American Interior Decorator Mrs. Henry Parish II. Of Course! I do too- but have You? I can't wait to read it- and it can be yours to read too- I'll send it your way.
