Gerald Brenan

This portraitback to top

In April 1920, while Brenan was living in Spain at Yegan, a primitive village on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, he was visited by Partridge, Carrington and Strachey. Carrington fell in love with Brenan and, after her marriage to Partridge, maintained a secret correspondence. Brenan visited England in the summer of 1921 and the portrait dates from the time of his affair with the artist.

Events of 1921back to top

Current affairs

Marie Stopes, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer of family planning, opens her first clinic in London, offering a free service to married women. While Stopes's forthright and open-minded attitudes have helped to change opinion about family planning and sex, her opinions on eugenics have been criticised and are now out-of-step with current thinking.

Art and science

British-born star of Hollywood Charlie Chaplin visits London where he is greeted by thousands. In 1921 Chaplain made his film, The Kid, which told the story of a tramp who finds an abandoned baby in an alley and decides to look after him. The portrayal of poverty in the film drew on Chaplain's own experiences of growing up in a working class family in London.

International

The Anglo-Irish Treaty partitions Ireland into the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland. The Irish Free State was granted independence, while six of the Northern counties of Ulster decided to remain part of Britain. The treaty came into effect in 1922.

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