Olivia Wyndham
Olivia Madeline Grace Mary Wyndham[1] (30 November 1897 – 1967[2]) was a British society photographer and a member of the 1920s socialite group known as the bright young things.
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The daughter of Colonel Guy Percy Wyndham, C.B., M.V.O. (a member of the Souls, the group congregated at his parents' house, Clouds, in Wiltshire[3]) and his wife Edwina Virginia Joanna, daughter of Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick,[4] Olivia Wyndham was the great-great granddaughter of the 3rd Earl of Egremont[5] and great-granddaughter of the 1st Baron Leconfield, sister of millionaire (Guy) Richard "Dick" (Charles) Wyndham, and a distant relative of Oscar Wilde.[6] Having founded a studio with him ("M Studio" in Fitzroy Square) Wyndham held an exhibition with the American Curtis Moffat in June 1927.[7] Regular subjects for Moffat and Wyndham were the Sitwells, Tallulah Bankhead and Cecil Beaton.[3] Wyndham was stated to have been an inspiration to photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer, who took over Wyndham's studio when the latter went to America.[8]
Having married the American Howland Spencer in 1930 (they divorced in 1931),[9] she lived in a ménage à trois with Edna Lewis Thomas, a successful African-American actress, and her husband, Lloyd Thomas.[6] In the 1930s, Wyndham was painted by the artist Joseph Delaney.[10]
Her niece was the writer Joan Wyndham, and her half-brother was the journalist, editor and writer Francis Wyndham, literary executor to Jean Rhys.
References
- Burke's Peerage, 2003, pg. 1290
- "Olivia Wyndham". npg.org.uk.
- "Olivia Wyndham in England". Cocktails With Elvira.
- "Conqueror 31". william1.co.uk.
- "Queers in the Mirror: A Brief History of Old-Fashioned Gay Marriage in New York, Part II". The Huffington Post.
- Wintz, Cary D.; Finkelman, Paul, eds. (2004). Encyclopaedia of the Harlem Renaissance. 2 (K–Y). New York: Routledge. p. 1176. ISBN 9780203319307.
- Andrews, Maggie; McNamara, Sallie (2014). Women and the Media: Feminism and Femininity in Britain, 1900 to the Present. New York: Routledge. p. 56. ISBN 9780415660365.
- Williams, Val (18 September 2011). "Obituary: Barbara Ker-Seymer". The Independent.
- "- Person Page 8274". thepeerage.com.
- Moffatt, Frederick J. The Life, Art and Times of Joseph Delaney, 1904–1991. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press. p. 121. ISBN 9781572336766.