Among the Bohemians by Virginia Nicholson Page B
Authors: Virginia Nicholson
Tags: Social Science, History, 20th Century, Modern, Anthropology, Cultural, Art, Social History, Individual Artists, Monographs
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with incredible fortune in being married to a man of such talent, and even after nearly twenty-five years of putting up with Gill was able to write devotedly to him, ‘I am simply bubbling all over with pride at the thought of being your wife.’ For her, geniuses were absolved from the normal rules of behaviour.
‘Earth Receiving’.A wood engraving for Procreant Hymn , 1926, by Eric Gill.
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The ideal of truthful living and truthful loving was a potent one.The old-fashioned institution of marriage stood little chance against it, and yet it could not be jettisoned overnight.Edwardian society was gripped by ‘themarriage question’; it was a burning issue that touched on women’s rights and on the entire basis of society itself.The public debate was constantly aired in the correspondence columns of daily papers, while intellectuals, playwrights, novelists and politicians all made exhaustive mileage out of it.Thus any free-thinking Bohemian worth the name who was considering plighting their troth to their beloved found themselves at the cutting edge of public controversy.If you were a feminist, marriage seemed like a legalistic concession to the tyranny of patriarchy.If you were an artist, were you to regard conventional marriage as incompatible with your way of life, or as simply irrelevant?Did you try what became known as ‘the modern experiment’ or ‘companionate marriage’, and go ‘Lawrencing off together’ into the sunset?You were forced to take a stand on the matter.
Arthur Ransome was unequivocal: ‘The door into the registrar’s office is the door out of Bohemia.’ But others saw matrimony as a great excuse for an unconventional party à la Bohème, like that of Roy Campbell and Mary Garman in 1922.The bride wore a long black dress and a long golden veil; the groom managed to borrow a frock-coat from a waiter at the Eiffel Tower, but his shoes were full of holes.Wyndham Lewis was one of the guests at the Harlequin nightclub in Beak Street, Soho:
The marriage-feast was a distinguished gathering, if you are prepared to admit distinction to the Bohemian, for it was almost gypsy in its freedom from the conventional restraints.It occurred in a room upstairs.In the middle of it Campbell and his bride retired.The guests then became quarrelsome…
The Ukrainian Jewish artist Jacob Kramer appears to have picked a fight with Augustus John over the size of his biceps, at which point Roy Campbell, disturbed by the fracas, abandoned his nuptial bed, re-entered the room in pyjamas and threatened to throw Kramer out of the upper-floor window: ‘You let my guests alone, Jacob.Don’t let me hear you’ve interfered with John again.Mind I’m only just upstairs, Jacob.I’ll come down to you!’ He then went back to bed.‘This was a typical “post-war” scene,’ claimed Wyndham Lewis.‘This is how, in the “post-war”, you were married and were given in marriage…”
For the Campbells, matrimony was to be a rocky ride, a test of endurance by poverty, alcoholism and infidelity.It was in the hope of finding creative stability that some couples resolved to run their relationships along rational lines.The idea of the open marriage or partnership appealed strongly to those high-minded individuals who saw themselves as logical yet instinctive, egalitarian yet passionate.In Bohemia one lived for higher things – art,music, poetry; one ought to be able to conduct one’s relationships, too, on elevated principles.People like Naomi Mitchison imagined themselves living a free artistic life unhampered by petty possessiveness, infidelity and accusations.And she and her husband, Dick, were scrupulous in examining their motivations in agreeing to be unfaithful to one another.Having consented to that principle, they worked hard to stick to their self-imposed rules.There was to be no jealousy, no casual promiscuity, no hurtful comments.Affection and respect were to remain the bedrock of their marriage, which expanded to
‘Earth Receiving’.A wood engraving for Procreant Hymn , 1926, by Eric Gill.
*
The ideal of truthful living and truthful loving was a potent one.The old-fashioned institution of marriage stood little chance against it, and yet it could not be jettisoned overnight.Edwardian society was gripped by ‘themarriage question’; it was a burning issue that touched on women’s rights and on the entire basis of society itself.The public debate was constantly aired in the correspondence columns of daily papers, while intellectuals, playwrights, novelists and politicians all made exhaustive mileage out of it.Thus any free-thinking Bohemian worth the name who was considering plighting their troth to their beloved found themselves at the cutting edge of public controversy.If you were a feminist, marriage seemed like a legalistic concession to the tyranny of patriarchy.If you were an artist, were you to regard conventional marriage as incompatible with your way of life, or as simply irrelevant?Did you try what became known as ‘the modern experiment’ or ‘companionate marriage’, and go ‘Lawrencing off together’ into the sunset?You were forced to take a stand on the matter.
Arthur Ransome was unequivocal: ‘The door into the registrar’s office is the door out of Bohemia.’ But others saw matrimony as a great excuse for an unconventional party à la Bohème, like that of Roy Campbell and Mary Garman in 1922.The bride wore a long black dress and a long golden veil; the groom managed to borrow a frock-coat from a waiter at the Eiffel Tower, but his shoes were full of holes.Wyndham Lewis was one of the guests at the Harlequin nightclub in Beak Street, Soho:
The marriage-feast was a distinguished gathering, if you are prepared to admit distinction to the Bohemian, for it was almost gypsy in its freedom from the conventional restraints.It occurred in a room upstairs.In the middle of it Campbell and his bride retired.The guests then became quarrelsome…
The Ukrainian Jewish artist Jacob Kramer appears to have picked a fight with Augustus John over the size of his biceps, at which point Roy Campbell, disturbed by the fracas, abandoned his nuptial bed, re-entered the room in pyjamas and threatened to throw Kramer out of the upper-floor window: ‘You let my guests alone, Jacob.Don’t let me hear you’ve interfered with John again.Mind I’m only just upstairs, Jacob.I’ll come down to you!’ He then went back to bed.‘This was a typical “post-war” scene,’ claimed Wyndham Lewis.‘This is how, in the “post-war”, you were married and were given in marriage…”
For the Campbells, matrimony was to be a rocky ride, a test of endurance by poverty, alcoholism and infidelity.It was in the hope of finding creative stability that some couples resolved to run their relationships along rational lines.The idea of the open marriage or partnership appealed strongly to those high-minded individuals who saw themselves as logical yet instinctive, egalitarian yet passionate.In Bohemia one lived for higher things – art,music, poetry; one ought to be able to conduct one’s relationships, too, on elevated principles.People like Naomi Mitchison imagined themselves living a free artistic life unhampered by petty possessiveness, infidelity and accusations.And she and her husband, Dick, were scrupulous in examining their motivations in agreeing to be unfaithful to one another.Having consented to that principle, they worked hard to stick to their self-imposed rules.There was to be no jealousy, no casual promiscuity, no hurtful comments.Affection and respect were to remain the bedrock of their marriage, which expanded to
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