Ethel Sands

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Ethel Sands
From left to right: Ethel Sands, Henry James and Lady Ottoline Morrell
Born (1873-07-06)6 July 1873
Newport, Rhode Island
Died 19 March 1962(1962-03-19) (aged 88)
Nationality British
Field Painting
Training Eugène Carrière

Ethel Sands (6 July 1873 – 19 March 1962) was an American-born artist and hostess who lived in England from her early childhood. She studied art in Paris for several years under Eugène Carrière, and it was there that she met Anna Hope Hudson (Nan), her life partner. Her works were influenced by the artist Edouard Vuillard and Walter Sickert, and were generally of still lifes and interior scenes, many of which are of Château d'Auppegard that she shared with Hudson in France. Sands was a Fitzroy Street Group and London Group member. Her works are in the collections of museums, the National Portrait Gallery, London and public collections. During both world wars, she nursed soldiers; she established a hospital in France in World War I. In 1916 she was made a citizen of England.

Due to her family's wealth she collected art and was a patron, but she is best known as a hostess for the cultural elite in her homes in England and Hudson's house in France. Her friends included Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry, Augustus John and many other writers and artists of her day. She continued to entertain into the 1950s when she was in her late 70s and 80s.

Early life

Ethel Sands was born on 6 July 1873 in Newport, Rhode Island, the first child of Mary Morton Hartpence and Mahlon Sands,[7] who married in 1872.[2] [nb 1] In 1874 the family left the United States for England. They lived again in the United States from 1877 to 1879, and then returned to England to stay.[7]

The wealthy Sands circulated amongst London society, including writer and statesman John Morley, politician William Ewart Gladstone, writer Henry James, artist John Singer Sargent, the Rothschild family, and Henry Graham White. Mahlon's sister, Katherine, was married to journalist and newspaper editor Edwin Lawrence Godkin. They were part of Edward VII, then Prince of Wales', social circle.[nb 2] John Singer Sargent painted the portrait of her mother's portrait, who was considered "a famous society beauty of her day."[7][2] Mary Sands was "much admired" by writer Henry James,[5] who called her "that gracious lady" and based his heroic character "Madame de Mauves" on her.[2][nb 3]

Her father had ridden horseback through Hyde Park, was thrown from the horse and died an accidental death in 1888.[2] His widow, Mary Sands, raised Ethel and her brothers until her death on 28 July 1896.[7][2]

Art

Education

Sands studied painting in Paris in 1894. There she met Nan Hudson, born Anna Hope Hudson in the United States, who became her life partner.[nb 4] Sand's mother died in 1896 and she guardian of her brothers.[7] Hudson and Sands studied under Eugène Carrière,[8] Sands was with him for several years.[4]

Painting

Sands painted still lifes and interior settings. Tate suggests that was inspired by Edouard Vuillard's dry brush technique, color palette and depiction of "intimate" scenes. Her first exhibition was at Salon d'Automne in Paris.[7]

In 1907, at Walter Sickert's invitation, she became a member and exhibited paintings she made at the Fitzroy Street Group. She also purchased the works of other artists. She was a London Group founding member.[7][nb 5] According to author Kate Deepwell, her works, and those of Vanessa Bell and other women, were evaluated differently at the that time than those made by men. The best critique would be that they had individuality, but they would not have been considered innovative, modern works.[9]

In Paris in 1911 she had her first show dedicated to her works. Hudson and Sands had a show at Carfax Gallery in 1912. The next year she was part of the "English Post-Impressionists, Cubists and Others" show in Brighton. Her works were exhibited at Goupil Gallery, and in 1922 she had her initial solo show. She also exhibited often at the Women's International Art Club and the New English Art Club.[7]

Hudson purchased Château d'Auppegard near Diemme, France in 1920,[7][8] which was the subject of several of Sand's paintings. Some of the interior paintings are A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard and Double Doors, Château d'Auppegard.[10][11] Other examples are the landscape Auppegard Church from Château, France and one of per partner, Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard.[12][13]

Socialite and patron

Her friends and visitors included from left to right: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Maria Nys and Bloomsbury Group members Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell[1]

Like Lady Sibyl Colefax and Lady Ottoline Morrell, Sands provided a place to nurture and discuss ideas.[7][nb 6] Affiliated with the Bloomsbury Group,[14] she was most well known as "one of the leading artist hostesses of her time,"[4] which she funded by her inheritance. She was mainly at the Oxford, Newington house until 1920,[4] but when in England she also entertained at her London Lowndes Street house, and between 1913 and 1937 at 15 Vale, Chelsea, London house,[7] where she lived near her mother's friend, Henry James.[2] Notable artists Augustus John and Walter Sickert. Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Arnold Bennett were among the writers of the "cultural elite" who visited her.[7] Her friends included artist Jacques-Émile Blanche, writer Edith Wharton, poet William Butler Yeats, essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith and novelist Howard Overing Sturgis.[2]

Lytton Strachey (a founder of the Bloomsbury Group} met at Sand's house[4][15] and her uncle, Edwin Lawrence Godkin wrote of his upcoming visit to Sand's house in Oxfordshire, "There one fortnight, and then back to "holy wars," patriotism, and buncombe..."[2][16]

She was a patron and collector of works by other contemporary artists. For instance, she commissioned Boris Anrep, a Russian immigrant, to create mosaics and murals in her Vale, Chelsea house.[7] Sands continued to entertain into the 1950s with her friends, including Duncan Grant and Desmond MacCarthy, until he died in 1952.[1]

World wars

Sands tended to soldiers who had been injured in France during World War I, having established a hospital for soldiers near Dieppe with Hudson. It was forced to close down, and they continued their nursing efforts in both France and England.[8] Sands was then in Britain working as a forewoman in a factory that made overalls. In 1916 attained her British citizenship. During World War II, Sands also served as a nurse. Hudson and Sands houses in France and England were destroyed, and with them most of their works.[7][4]

Personal life

Her mind was like her room, in which lights advanced and retreated, came pirouetting and stepping delicately, spread their tails, pecked their way; and then her whole being was suffused, like the room again, with a cloud of some profound knowledge, some unspoken regret, and then she was full of locked drawers, stuffed with letters, like her cabinets.

“
”
Virginia Woolf, The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection[1]

The women divided their time between England and France to accommodate their lifestyle preferences. Hudson enjoyed living a relatively quiet life in France and Sands liked the London and Oxford social life.[7][8]

Sands was socially active throughout her life. When her Hudson's health began to fail, Sands nursed her until she died in 1957. Sand continued to entertain after Hudson's death. Her date of death was 19 March 1962.[7]

Friend Virginia Woolf wrote a sketch based upon her called "The Lady in the Looking Glass," subtitled "A Reflection," about a time that she saw her come "in from the garden and not reading her letters." The mirror symbolized the way in which art is used to take a snapshot in time, but can also cut.[17][18]

Wendy Baron, an author and art historian, wrote a biography about Sands, partly based upon the letters that Sands exchanged with Hudson and others. Tate Archives now holds the correspondence.[7]

Works

Among the works that survived World War II plunders and bombings are:

  • A Dressing Room, oil on millboard, 46 x 38 cm, The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Before it came to The Ashmolean, it was owned by Logan Pearsall Smith. The museum commented on the similarity of this work to paintings made by Edouard Vuillard.[19][20]
  • A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard, c. 1925, oil on board, 44.5 x 53.5 cm, Government Art Collection[11] It was exhibited at British Council, Cairo & Algiers, 1944.[21]
  • Auppegard Church from the Château, France, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation[13]
  • Bedroom Interior, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation[22]
  • Double Doors, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 53 x 45 cm, City of London Corporation[10]
  • Figure Seated by an Open Window, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation[23]
  • Flowers in a Jug, 1920s, oil on canvas, Tate[24]
  • Girl Reading on a Sofa, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 53 x 46 cm, City of London Corporation[25]
  • Girl Sewing, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 49 x 60 cm, City of London Corporation[26]
  • Interior at Portland Place, London, oil on canvas, 43 x 58 cm, City of London Corporation[27]
  • Interior with Mirror and Fireplace, oil on canvas, 65 x 53 cm, City of London Corporation[28]
  • Interior with Still Life and the Statuette of the Madonna, oil on canvas, 67.3 x 58.5 cm, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales[29]
  • (Lloyd) Logan Pearsall Smith, 1932, oil on canvas, 61.4 x 49.8 cm, National Portrait Gallery, London[30]
  • Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 64 x 52 cm, City of London Corporation[12]
  • Still Life with a View over a Cemetery, oil on board, 45 x 37.5 cm, The Fitzwilliam Museum[31]
  • Still Life with Books and Flowers, oil on canvas, 36 x 44 cm, City of London Corporation[32]
  • Tea with Sickert, c. 1911–12, oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm, Tate[33]
  • The Bedroom at Auppegard, France, Girl Reading, oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm, City of London Corporation[34]
  • The Chintz Couch, c. 1911–12, oil on board, 46.5 x 38.5 cm, Tate[35]
  • The Open Door, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 54 x 45 cm, City of London Corporation[36]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mahlon was previously married; his wife died in India.[2]
  2. ↑ Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, encouraged the Sands' to stay in England.[1]
  3. ↑ Henry James and Mary Sands kept up a relationship until her death. They attended important events in each others' lives, corresponded and had discussions about the social, literary and political issues of the day. In a letter to his brother and sister-in-law, he wrote that Mary Sands was "a pathetic, ballottée creature—with nothing small or mean and with a beauty that had once been of the greatest." Ethel became a friend of James and following his death she spoke of her memories of him on a British radio program in 1956.[2]
  4. ↑ Wendy Baron wrote in her 1977 book, Ethel Sands and Her Circle: "They were basically two independent, individual women, whose mutual love and understanding rescued them from the loneliness of spinsterhood.[4]
  5. ↑ Camden Town Group was a male-member organization, but there were female artists like Sands, Anna Hope Hudson and Marjorie Sherlock that were involved on the periphery.[3]
  6. ↑ One of Sand's good friends,[5] Lady Ottoline Morrell "took over" Sand's Chelsea house for entertainment after she had to give up her London house at Bedford Square.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 French Mary Ann Caws Distinguished Professor of English, and Comparative Literature City University of New York Graduate School; French Sarah Bird Wright Distinguished Professor of English, and Comparative Literature City University of New York Graduate School. Bloomsbury and France : Art and Friends: Art and Friends. Oxford University Press; 2 December 1999. ISBN 978-0-19-802781-2. p. 123.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Robert L. Gale, A Henry James Encyclopedia. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989, 586–587. The source was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  3. ↑ Ian Chilvers, A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 110. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Ian Chilvers. (1999) A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 545-546. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Robert L. Gale, A Henry James Encyclopedia. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989, 444. The source was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  6. ↑ Pamela Todd. (1999). Bloomsbury at Home. (New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 156. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 Ethel Sands. Tate. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Nan (Anna Hope) Hudson. Tate. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Katy Deepwell. (1994). "Chapter 13: 'A Fair Field and No Favour': Women Artists Working in Britain Between the Wars" in This Working-Day World: Women's Lives and Culture(s) in Britain, 1914–1945, ed. Sybil Oldfield. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 150.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Double Doors, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Auppegard Church from the Château, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Jamie Cullum Ups the Jazziness of Kensal Green; Homes Gossip: Homes & Property," The Evening Standard. London, England, December 15, 2004. The source was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  15. ↑ Gertrude Stein. (1933) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. New York: Random House. p. 151. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  16. ↑ Rollo Ogden, ed. (1907)Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin, vol. 2. (New York: Macmillan Company. p. 220. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  17. ↑ Julia Briggs. (2006). Reading Virginia Woolf Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 173. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  18. ↑ Nena Skrbic. (2004) Wild Outbursts of Freedom: Reading Virginia Woolf's Short Fiction. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 75. It was accessed via Questia, a subscription required site.
  19. ↑ A Dressing Room Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  20. ↑ A Dressing Room The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  21. ↑ A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard. Government Art Collection. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  22. ↑ Bedroom Interior, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  23. ↑ Figure Seated by an Open Window. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  24. ↑ Flowers in a Jug. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  25. ↑ Girl Reading on a Sofa, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  26. ↑ Girl Sewing, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  27. ↑ Interior at Portland Place, London. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  28. ↑ Interior with Mirror and Fireplace. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  29. ↑ Interior with Still Life and the Statuette of the Madonna. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  30. ↑ (Lloyd) Logan Pearsall Smith. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  31. ↑ Still Life with a View over a Cemetery. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  32. ↑ Still Life with Books and Flowers. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  33. ↑ Tea with Sickert. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  34. ↑ The Bedroom at Auppegard, France, Girl Reading. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  35. ↑ The Chintz Couch. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  36. ↑ The Open Door, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved January 18, 2014.

Further reading

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