Edith Sitwell
(1887-1964), PoetDame Edith Sitwell
Sitter in 56 portraits
Sitwell's first volume of poems, The Mother, was published in 1915. In collaboration with Osbert, she wrote Twentieth Century Harlequinade (1916). Her early work was characterised by marked stylisation, striking images and unconventional rhythms. As editor of the poetry anthology Wheels (1916-21), she encouraged modernist writers and attracted critical attention. Façade, her poem set to William Walton's music, established her reputation. Her best-known work includes Gold Coast Customs (1929) and English Eccentrics (1933). Four wartime volumes, including Street Songs (1942) and The Shadow of Cain (1947), were inspired by the blitz and the atom bomb.
Explore the portrait of Edith Sitwell by Maurice Lambert (NPG 5801) from all angles
Mr John Drinkwater Reading' (John Drinkwater; possibly Rudyard Kipling; Edith Sitwell)
by Mark Wayner (Weiner)
lithograph, published 1931
NPG D23328
Suggestion for an All National History Charity Tableau
by Anthony Wysard
watercolour, 1931
NPG D308
Arthur David Waley; Vita Sackville-West; Sir Osbert Sitwell; Edith Sitwell; Walter de la Mare
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 14 April 1943
NPG x45793
Edith Sitwell; Sir Osbert Sitwell
by Bill Brandt
bromide print on card mount, 1945
NPG x22477
Related People
- William Henry Forester Denison, 1st Earl of Londesborough (grandfather)
- Edith Frances Wilhelmina (née Somerset), Countess of Londesborough (grandmother)
- Lady Ida Emily Augusta Sitwell (née Denison) (mother)
- Francis Trajan Sitwell (nephew)
- Sir (Francis) Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Bt (brother)
- Sir (Sacheverell) Reresby Sitwell, 7th Bt (nephew)
- Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Bt (brother)
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