Laughing Torso - Reminiscences of Nina Hamnett

LAUGHING TORSO- REMINISCENCES OF NINA HAMNETT by Ray Long Richard. Originally published in 1931. Contents include: I. VERY EARLY DAYS I II. THE ACADEMY FOR YOUNG LADIES . . 7 III. AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL . , . IO IV. I BEGIN TO BE AN ARTIST . . , 1 6 V, COMING OF AGE . , . . - 31 VI. LIFE 44 VII. WAR AND ART 72 VIII. PEACE AND POVERTY . . . . 115 IX. PARIS REVISITED 120 X. THE SOUTH OF FRANCE , . . . 138 XL BACK TO PARIS AND TO CELEBRITIES . 154 XII. SOUTHERN FRANCE AGAIN . . . 250 XIII. PARIS . . . . . . .262 XIV. HYERES AND NICE . . . - 2 73 XV. PARIS AND BRITTANY . . . . 279 XVI. SOUTH ONCE MORE LONDON . . . 307 INDEX 323 Vll ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE THE TORSO . Frontispiece MYSELF AT SALT ASH, 1 89 1 . . . . 2 MYSELF AND MY BROTHER IN FANCY DRESS, TENBY, 1899 10 MYSELF AT SEVENTEEN, 1907 . . . 1 8 MYSELF TO-DAY, 1932 . 22 RICHARD SICKERT, R. A 37 THE FRIDAY MODELS AT WASSILIEFF S . . 50 MODIGLIANI 60 A FANCY DRESS DANCE IN THE AVENUE DE MAINE, 1914 67 W. H. DAVIES 98 EDITH SITWELL 105 Drawing in the possession of Richard Sickert, R. A. MY CLASS AT THE WESTMINSTER INSTITUTE OH p. 11 MYSELF, 1920 133 ONE OF EDGARS MARIONETTES . . . 133 THE POLE .... OH p. 137 AT THE DOME 172 THE ACADEMY COLOROSSI . . OH p. 183 THE PLOUGH MUSEUM STREET . OH p. 203 MADAME WALTER. DURANTY . . . .214 PEASANTS IN A CAFE, DOUARNENEZ, 1923 . . 234 NOW THAT I AM SO MUCH OLDER I THINK PERHAPS I AM BETTER OFF AS I AM 1932 266 LYTTON STRACHEY 305 Drawing in the possession of Philip Gosse PORTRAIT On p. 321 IX LAUGHING TORSO. CHAPTER I: VERY EARLY DAYS. ONE morning towards the end of the year 18893 a lady who lived in a terrace of houses on the top of a high rock surrounded by battlements descended into the kitchen to order the food for the day. She was in a few months time to have a child. She was suddenly seized with a strong feeling that she must come upstairs, cross the garden and look down on the seashore. The impulse became so strong that she went upstairs, crossed the garden and looked over the battlements. Standing on the shore far below was a man with dark hypnotic eyes. This man,, whenever he saw her, stared at her in a way that frightened her he had lived a long time in the East. The child she was about to bear was myself. I have often wondered if that man hypnotized her in any way that may afterwards have affected me or induced me to start on a career that was so different from that of my family or my upbringing. On February the fourteenth, 1890, I was born. Everybody was furious, especially my Father, who still is. As soon as I became conscious of anything I was furious too, at having been born a girl I have since discovered that it has certain advantages. My first recollection of anything is walking downstairs, step by step, to join a little boy who was standing at