Ethel Sands (6 July 1873 – 19 March 1962) was an American-born artist and hostess who lived in England from childhood. She studied art in Paris, where she met her life partner Anna Hope Hudson. Her works were generally still lifes and interiors, often of Château d'Auppegard that she shared with Hudson. Sands was a Fitzroy Street Group and London Group member. Her works are in London's National Portrait Gallery and other public collections. In 1916, she became a naturalised British citizen. Although a major art patron and an artist, she is most remembered as a hostess for the cultural elite, including Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Augustus John.
Early life
Ethel Sands was born on 6 July 1873 in Newport, Rhode Island, the first child of Mary Morton (Hartpence) and Mahlon Day Sands,
who married in 1872.
Mahlon Sands was secretary of the American Free Trade League, who in 1870 advocated for civil service reform and free trade.
[Andrew L. Slap, The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006, pp. 128, 156.] He was partner of his deceased father's pharmaceutical importing firm, A.B. Sands and Company.
Ethel had two younger brothers, Mahlon Alan and Morton Harcourt Sands, who were, respectively, 5 and 11 years younger.
In 1874, the family left the United States for England,[Josiah Granville Leach. Memoranda relating to the ancestry and family of Hon. Levi Parson Morton, vice-president of the United States (1889–1893). . Printed at the Riverside press; 1894. p. 65.] However, Mahlon Sands and his family stayed in England and travelled among European countries. They also visited the United States annually[ "Mahlon Sand's Death: A Fatal Accident in London, While Starting for a Ride." New York Times. 9 May 1888. Retrieved 12 March 2014.] and were there for an extended visit from 1877 to 1879.
The wealthy Sands circulated among 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.
John Singer Sargent painted the portrait of her mother, who was considered "a famous society beauty of her day."
Ethel Sands was raised in a respectable upper-class household in which her parents were "happily married".[Anthony Powell. Under Review: Further Writings on Writers, 1946–1990 . University of Chicago Press; 1 July 1994. . pp. 134–135.] Her father had ridden horseback through Hyde Park, was thrown from the horse and died an accidental death in 1888.[Robert L. Gale, A Henry James Encyclopedia. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989, 586–587.] His widow, Mary Sands, raised Ethel and her brothers until her death on 28 July 1896.[ Ethel Sands. Tate. Retrieved 17 January 2014.]
Art
Education
Encouraged by artist John Singer Sargent,
[ Ethel Sands. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 12 March 2014.] Sands studied painting in Paris at the Académie Carrière under Eugène Carrière for several years, beginning in 1894.
[Ian Chilvers. (1999) A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 545, 8.] There she met fellow student Nan Hudson, born Anna Hope Hudson in the United States, who became her life partner.
[Ian Chilvers. (1999) A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 545-546.][ Nan (Anna Hope) Hudson. Tate. Retrieved 17 January 2014.] During this time, Sands became the guardian of her two younger brothers following her mother's death in 1896.
Painting
Sands painted still lifes and interior settings.
Tate suggests that was inspired by Édouard Vuillard's dry brush technique, colour palette and depiction of "intimate" scenes. Her first exhibition was at Salon d'Automne in Paris
in 1904.
[Wendy Baron. Camden Town Recalled: Exhibition 14 October-12 November 1976 : Centenary 1876–1976, The Fine Art Society Ltd. : Text. Fine Art Society; 1976. pp. 5, 44.]
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 one of the artists that founded the London Group.[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.]
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.
Hudson purchased Château d'Auppegard near Dieppe, France in 1920,[ Ethel Sands . Tate. Retrieved 12 March 2014.] Government Art Collection,[ Ethel Sands . Government Art Collection. Retrieved 12 March 2014.] and Fitzwilliam Museum.[ Still-life with a view over a cemetery. Fitzwilliam Museum. Retrieved 13 March 2014.]
Socialite and patron
Like Lady Sibyl Colefax and Lady Ottoline Morrell, Sands entertained artists and writers with the intention to nurture and discuss ideas relevant to their careers. Lady Ottoline Morrell "took over" Sand's Chelsea house for entertainment after she had to give up her London house at Bedford Square.
[Pamela Todd. (1999). Bloomsbury at Home. (New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 156.] Affiliated with the
Bloomsbury Group,
[ "Jamie Cullum Ups the Jazziness of Kensal Green; Homes Gossip: Homes & Property" The Evening Standard. London, England, 15 December 2004.] she was best-known as "one of the leading artist hostesses of her time", her lavish affairs were financially possible due to the significant wealth she inherited from her parents. She was mainly at the Oxford, Newington house until 1920,
but when in England she also entertained at her London Lowndes Street house, and between 1913 and 1937 at 15 Vale, Chelsea, London house,
where she lived near her mother's friend,
Henry James.
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.
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.
Lytton Strachey (a founder of the Bloomsbury Group) met at Sands' house[Gertrude Stein. (1933) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. New York: Random House. p. 151.] and her uncle, Edwin Lawrence Godkin wrote of his upcoming visit to Sands' house in Oxfordshire, "There one fortnight, and then back to "holy wars", patriotism, and ..."[Rollo Ogden, ed. (1907) Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin, vol. 2. (New York: Macmillan Company. p. 220.]
File:Edwin Godkin.jpg|Edwin Lawrence Godkin, her uncle, a journalist and editor
File:Henry James.jpg|Henry James, writer, neighbour and close friend of the family
File:Walter Sickert photo by George Charles Beresford 1911 (1).jpg|Walter Sickert, artist and mentor
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.
She was described as a "plain woman of immense charm, cultivation and perception, and a painter of considerable talent" in the Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. It was suggested there that Henry James modelled the character Nanda in The Awkward Age after Sands.[M. C. Rintoul. Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction . Taylor & Francis; 1 January 1993. . p. 807.]
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.
Sands was then in Britain working as a forewoman in a factory that made overalls. In 1916 she became a British citizenship. During World War II, Sands served as a nurse.
The house in Chelsea, London was destroyed during
The Blitz by a
parachute mine, and the house in France was broken into and its contents were stolen or destroyed. The two war-time events resulted in the loss of most of Sands' and Hudson's works.
Personal life
Sands and Hudson 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.
Sands entertained people within and outside of the cultural elite throughout her life.
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 symbolised the way in which art is used to take a snapshot in time, but can also cut.
Wendy Baron, an author and art historian, wrote a biography about Sands, partly based upon the letters that Sands exchanged with Hudson and others.[ Search: Ethel Sands . Tate Archive. Retrieved 13 March 2014.]
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 Édouard Vuillard.
[ A Dressing Room Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.][ A Dressing Room The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard, c. 1925, oil on board, 44.5 x 53.5 cm, Government Art Collection
[ A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.] It was exhibited at British Council, Cairo & Algiers, 1944.[ A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard. Government Art Collection. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Auppegard Church from the Château, France, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Auppegard Church from the Château, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Bedroom Interior, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Bedroom Interior, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Double Doors, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 53 x 45 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Double Doors, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Figure Seated by an Open Window, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Figure Seated by an Open Window. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Flowers in a Jug, 1920s, oil on canvas, Tate
[ Flowers in a Jug. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Girl Reading on a Sofa, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 53 x 46 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Girl Reading on a Sofa, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Girl Sewing, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 49 x 60 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Girl Sewing, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Interior at Portland Place, London, oil on canvas, 43 x 58 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Interior at Portland Place, London. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Interior with Mirror and Fireplace, oil on canvas, 65 x 53 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Interior with Mirror and Fireplace. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Interior with Still Life and the Statuette of the Madonna, oil on canvas, 67.3 x 58.5 cm, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales
[ Interior with Still Life and the Statuette of the Madonna. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
(Lloyd) Logan Pearsall Smith, 1932, oil on canvas, 61.4 x 49.8 cm, National Portrait Gallery, London
[ (Lloyd) Logan Pearsall Smith. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 64 x 52 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Still Life with a View over a Cemetery, oil on board, 45 x 37.5 cm, The Fitzwilliam Museum
[ Still Life with a View over a Cemetery. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Still Life with Books and Flowers, oil on canvas, 36 x 44 cm, City of London Corporation
[ Still Life with Books and Flowers. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
Tea with Sickert, c. 1911–12, oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm, Tate
[ Tea with Sickert. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
The Bedroom at Auppegard, France, Girl Reading, oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm, City of London Corporation
[ The Bedroom at Auppegard, France, Girl Reading. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
The Chintz Couch, c. 1911–12, oil on board, 46.5 x 38.5 cm, Tate
[ The Chintz Couch. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
-
The Open Door, Auppegard, France, oil on canvas, 54 x 45 cm, City of London Corporation
[ The Open Door, Auppegard, France. Your Paintings: Ethel Sands. BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.]
Notes
Further reading
-
Wendy Baron. Miss Ethel Sands and her circle. Owen; April 1977,
-
Sarah Bradford; Honor Clerk. The Sitwells and the Arts of the 1920s and 1930s. University of Texas Press; 1994. . p. 45, 64, 68, 204.
-
Lara Feigel; Alexandra Harris. Modernism on Sea: Art and Culture at the British Seaside. Peter Lang; 2009. . p. 62–63, 250, 251.
-
Genevieve Marie Preston. A Modern Setting for a Modern Life: Madame Stringberg, Ethel Sands, and Lady Drogheda's Innovative and Avant-garde Interiors. University of California, Riverside; 1998.
External links
