Poets, patrons of the arts, and ardent self-publicists, the three Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell, rarely missed an opportunity to promote themselves or denounce their sworn enemy, the Philistine. This book celebrates their lives and their artistic crusade, which brought them into contact and conflict with many of the leading figures of the arts in the early part of this century. Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Evelyn Waugh were among their friends; their favorite enemies included Wyndham ...
Read More
Poets, patrons of the arts, and ardent self-publicists, the three Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell, rarely missed an opportunity to promote themselves or denounce their sworn enemy, the Philistine. This book celebrates their lives and their artistic crusade, which brought them into contact and conflict with many of the leading figures of the arts in the early part of this century. Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Evelyn Waugh were among their friends; their favorite enemies included Wyndham Lewis, Noel Coward, and D. H. Lawrence.Throughout their lives, the Sitwells were painted and photographed by many famous artists and photographers, including John Singer Sargent, Wyndham Lewis, Rex Whistler, Bill Brandt, and Cecil Beaton. This richly illustrated book provides a unique iconography of the Sitwells and encapsulates fifty years of British cultural history.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Used-Very Good. VG hardback in VG dust jacket. 1994 publication to accompany an exhibition; numerous colour and B&W illustrations; tightly bound in brick design boards; dust jacket slightly discoloured and protected by removable clear film. Faint foxing on top page fore-edge. Internally, gift inscription on half title; faint yellowing to page edges; otherwise, a clean, tidy copy.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 1500grams, ISBN: 9781855141407.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Google "Edith Sitwell" and the first entry you will find identifies her as "a nearly forgotten poetess." The photo on that web page is the same one that decorates the cover of "The Sitwells and the Arts of the 1920s and 1930s", a lavishly illustrated catalog for an exhibition of the work of the three Sitwells mounted by The National Portrait Gallery in 1994 and 1995. This comprehensive exhibition surveys the work of Osbert, Edith, and Sacheverell, separately and together. Edith is probably best known for "Facade", written to the accompaniment of William Walton's bright musical score; Osbert for his five-volume autobiography; and Sacheverell for his travel and art books. Together they were a force to be reckoned with in the world of art and literature in the 1920s and 1930s, the focus of this book. During those decades they participated in--and fomented--some impressive artistic controversies. Individually, as this book demonstrates, they by and large went their separate ways after the 1926 debut of "Facade". As members of the literary avant-garde, the trio generated a lot of heat. They have sarcastically been called more a part of the history of publicity than the history of literature. A. N. Wilson, in "After the Victorians" (Picador, 2005) says, " . . . Neither Edith nor Sacheverell . . . left anything behind them in written form which was evidence of any particular talent" (p. 237). "The Sitwells and the Arts in the 1920s and 1930s" takes a more judicious view, highlighting the very real talent that each sibling possessed in varying degrees. For at least a few years in the second quarter of the twentieth century, anyone who was anyone in the bright new vista of post-World War I European art knew--or wanted to know--the Sitwell siblings. While the book is largely a pictorial account of the famous trio, there are incisive articles on their individual and collective achievements. Particularly interesting is the account of the composition and initial performance of "Facade", a work which characterizes everything they were about in the twenties. The mythology they constructed around this event (Osbert in "Laughter in the Next Room" and Edith in "Taken Care Of" and many other writings) is central to their legend as embattled artists confronting their arch-enemy, the pedestrian and unthinking Philistine. John Pearson's essay succinctly illuminates the reality of its debut reception: "The truth of what occurred that afternoon is that the first public performance of 'Facade' was actually a flop, and not a battle . . ." (p. 81). Battles are what the Sitwells were known for (Sacheverell to a much less degree than his contentious brother and sister), and this book records the prominent ones of the covered years--endless fights with the likes of Noel Coward and F. R. Leavis among many others. The book is a fair-handed look at a trio who excited admiration or scorn, but rarely impartiality. As would be expected in an exhibition catalog, the images are varied, judiciously chosen, and fascinating in their breadth of vision. Cecil Beaton, Wyndom Lewis, Pavel Tchelitchew, Max Beerbohm--they're all here, recording their visions of the glamorous trio. This book can be seen as being a much about the artists who painted, sculpted, photographed, and wrote about the Sitwells as about the family itself. The book is published by the University of Texas, holder of the major papers of Edith Sitwell. The illustrations are in color and black and white. "The Sitwells and the Arts of the 1920s and 1930s" is a window into a world passed away. It was beautiful, shocking, intense, and, seen in retrospect in the images of these three turbulent, talented standard-bearers, really rather sad.
