Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939

Being a relative helps. One gets a level of insight that is often facinating. But - and it's a bit of a big but - she can be too sympathetic. Too much is forgiven or brushed aside.

Her comments about Eric Gill is a case in point. Eric Gill, though a talented artist, had sex with children, including his own. If the book was judging artists for the quality of their art, there would be no problem. But Ms Nicholson investigates their lifestyles and such actions cannot be glossed over. A more critical approach would have made this a better book.


C'est La Vie... (de Boheme)   December 11, 2002
 58 out of 60 found this review helpful

Dare I talk about breeding in a book that deals with Bohemians? Sure, why not! The author's father was Quentin Bell- writer, artist and academic...and the biographer of his aunt, Virginia Woolf. Her grandmother was the artist Vanessa Bell, who was Virginia Woolf's sister. With bloodlines like that, you'd expect Virginia Nicholson to finish "in the money" with this subject...and she doesn't disappoint. I think the family connection has helped her to be more charitable and sympathetic than a dispassionate observer might be concerning the behavior of the Bohemians. Where some people might only find childishness, selfishness and irresponsibility (and Ms. Nicholson can see these traits as well), the author can see nobler things. She can see the ability to think independently, to believe that Art and Truth and Beauty are worth devoting your life to.....and to have the courage of your convictions by doing just that- no matter what the cost. Many of the people described in this book did not possess first-class talent, but they still gave it their best shot. They had little money, they often were hungry and cold, and they spent their lifetimes being rejected by the mainstream. They didn't have to live that way...they chose a way of life that had those consequences. Ms. Nicholson's achievement is to get you to respect, if not to admire, these people...rather than to laugh at them or think them foolish. The book has been put together in a very creative fashion. Rather than just make the book a collection of anecdotes, Ms. Nicholson has come up with an interesting theme for each chapter. For example, one chapter deals with the nuts-and-bolts of living in poverty, another deals with how the Bohemians raised their children, and still others deal with love and marriage, interior decoration, clothing, cooking, cleanliness, the importance of travel, etc. The book is an intriguing mixture of the philosophical and the down-to-earth. On one page the author will be asking "Can a person be wealthy and still be a Bohemian?" and on another page she will describe how the sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was so filthy that when the writer Ford Madox Ford was forced to sit next to him one warm summer day, Ford was so overwhelmed by the stench that he had to leave. But, Ms. Nicholson adds, "...as the weather cooled Gaudier was promoted to the guest list for Ford's At Homes, and Ford even went so far as to install the artist's phallic statue of Ezra Pound in his front garden". Another funny story concerned the painter Augustus John losing his temper when he found out he had been charged 43 pounds for lunch at the "Eiffel Tower" restaurant in London. The proprietor explained the bill wasn't just for lunch. It turns out that Dylan Thomas had been eating there for 2 weeks and had told the owner not to worry about the money, Augustus John would take care of it! (And he did.) On the sociological side, the author describes how many of the Bohemians, Augustus John for one, didn't so much raise their children as just let them raise themselves....giving them what amounted to almost total freedom. Some of this was a belief, a la Rousseau, that children would turn out best if brought up "in a state of nature". A lot of it was also humbug disguised as philosophy...it was a lot easier to let the kids do what they wanted while mom and dad got back to the really important stuff...like writing and painting! Interestingly, a good many of the children not only enjoyed this way of life but turned out quite nicely- they became creative, self-sufficient, well-adjusted adults. Others resented being ignored and the lack of structure....and turned out insecure, with a craving for order. Ms. Nicholson is also quite good in describing the price creative women often paid when they got into relationships with creative men. It seems Bohemian men were no more enlightened than their more conventional brethren- the fairer sex was still expected to clean the house and cook the meals and make the afternoon tea, etc. Many of these women were so tired they had very little time or energy to devote to their artistic pursuits. The women, understandably, resented this state of affairs.....but, at great cost to their own careers, usually tolerated it. I really enjoyed this book. It is well-written, well-organized, thought provoking and also just plain fun to read.