The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century
This is the story of women caught up in the tumultuous art scene of the early twentieth century, some famous and others lost to time.

By 1910 the patina of the belle époque was wearing thin in London. Artists were on the hunt for modern women who could hold them in thrall. A chance encounter on the street could turn an artless child into an artist’s model, and a model into a muse. Most were accidental beauties, plucked from obscurity to pose in the great art schools and studios. Many returned home to lives that were desperately challenging — almost all were anonymous.

Meet them now. Sit with them in the Café Royal amid the wives and mistresses of London’s most provocative artists. Peek behind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts at women whose identities are some of art history’s most enduring secrets. Drawing on a rich mélange of historical and anecdotal records and a primary source, this is storytelling that sweeps up the reader in the cultural tides that raced across London in the Edwardian, Great War and interwar periods.

A highlight of the book is a reveal of the Avico siblings, a family of models whose faces can be found in paint and bronze and stone today. Their lives and contributions have been cloaked in a century of silence. Now, illuminated by family photos and oral histories from the daughter of one of the models, the Avico story is finally told.
"1131239607"
The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century
This is the story of women caught up in the tumultuous art scene of the early twentieth century, some famous and others lost to time.

By 1910 the patina of the belle époque was wearing thin in London. Artists were on the hunt for modern women who could hold them in thrall. A chance encounter on the street could turn an artless child into an artist’s model, and a model into a muse. Most were accidental beauties, plucked from obscurity to pose in the great art schools and studios. Many returned home to lives that were desperately challenging — almost all were anonymous.

Meet them now. Sit with them in the Café Royal amid the wives and mistresses of London’s most provocative artists. Peek behind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts at women whose identities are some of art history’s most enduring secrets. Drawing on a rich mélange of historical and anecdotal records and a primary source, this is storytelling that sweeps up the reader in the cultural tides that raced across London in the Edwardian, Great War and interwar periods.

A highlight of the book is a reveal of the Avico siblings, a family of models whose faces can be found in paint and bronze and stone today. Their lives and contributions have been cloaked in a century of silence. Now, illuminated by family photos and oral histories from the daughter of one of the models, the Avico story is finally told.
49.95 In Stock
The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century

The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century

by Lucy Merello Peterson
The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century

The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century

by Lucy Merello Peterson

Hardcover

$49.95 
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Overview

This is the story of women caught up in the tumultuous art scene of the early twentieth century, some famous and others lost to time.

By 1910 the patina of the belle époque was wearing thin in London. Artists were on the hunt for modern women who could hold them in thrall. A chance encounter on the street could turn an artless child into an artist’s model, and a model into a muse. Most were accidental beauties, plucked from obscurity to pose in the great art schools and studios. Many returned home to lives that were desperately challenging — almost all were anonymous.

Meet them now. Sit with them in the Café Royal amid the wives and mistresses of London’s most provocative artists. Peek behind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts at women whose identities are some of art history’s most enduring secrets. Drawing on a rich mélange of historical and anecdotal records and a primary source, this is storytelling that sweeps up the reader in the cultural tides that raced across London in the Edwardian, Great War and interwar periods.

A highlight of the book is a reveal of the Avico siblings, a family of models whose faces can be found in paint and bronze and stone today. Their lives and contributions have been cloaked in a century of silence. Now, illuminated by family photos and oral histories from the daughter of one of the models, the Avico story is finally told.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781526725257
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication date: 12/21/2018
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lucy Merello Peterson is a freelance writer and ghostwriter whose words have given voice to companies around the globe. A trained artist who happily loses herself in the past, she has followed the whispers into early 20th century London where women forged some of history’s most intriguing relationships with the arts. Peterson is an avid traveler and collector who indulges her love of language by finding new spaces to explore. She divides her time between America and England.

Table of Contents

Foreword vi

Author's Preface vii

Part 1 Models and The Times

Chapter 1 Anonymous Lives 2

Chapter 2 Colour Lines 6

Part 2 Chasing Beauty

Chapter 3 International Ideals 10

Chapter 4 Academic Dilemmas 15

Chapter 5 Modern Realities 22

Chapter 6 Bloomsbury Doorsteps 29

Part 3 Unconventional Women

Chapter 7 The Quiet Canvas 44

Chapter 8 The Club Scene 55

Chapter 9 Wives and Mistresses 64

Part 4 War and Art

Chapter 10 Echoes from the Front 74

Chapter 11 The Distaff Side of War 83

Chapter 12 A Brief Return to Order 91

Part 4 Freedom and Fame

Chapter 13 The It Girl Arrives 100

Chapter 14 Footlights and Fancy Dress 108

Chapter 15 The Changing Dais 118

Part 6 The Avico Sisters 122

A Revelation 122

Compendium of Models 145

Attributions for Headings and Images 165

Endnotes 171

Index 175

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