48th Issue: The Garman Sisters
Today we are going to learn about the Garman sisters. I will discuss the three of them – Mary, Kathleen and Lorna. They lived in London at the turn of the twentieth century and were very well connected. All of them grew up in a country estate, but their parents were very conservative and religious. Mary, the oldest daughter, and Kathleen, who was called Kitty, both would steal household items for money to buy cigarettes, erotica, and other forbidden items. They’d go drinking and partying at the pub. Below is Kathleen:
When they were 21 and 17 years old, they ran away to London together, and lived in a one-room studio together, working as models for artists. They were beautiful and immediately got into the Bloomsbury Set which was comprised of poets, authors, painters, singers, and other socialites. In 1924, Mary married Roy Campbell, a South African poet. She wore a black and gold veil at her wedding, and had an “outrageous lifestyle”. He wrote about her in poems, and both of them cheated on each other. Mary had an affair with Vita Sackville-West (Virginia Woolf, who used to date her, was pretty upset about this). They had some children, but did not pay attention to them. Mary and her husband moved to the south of France and then to Spain. Mary and Roy got into a car crash in Portugal in 1957 and Roy died. Mary lived longer though, passing away in 1979. Below is Mary:
Kathleen Garman, called Kitty, was the third of nine children. She studied music and art as a child, and when she ran away to London with her sister, she met Jacob Epstein, who she began dating. He was married, and a sculptor, and her father was so upset that she was his mistress that he cut her out of his will. Jacob’s wife, Margaret, invited Kitty to her house and then shot her with a pistol. She didn’t die, and Jacob paid her hospital bills and persuaded her not to press charges. When shooting her didn’t work, Margaret decided to encourage Jacob to have more affairs with other people so that he’d get sick of Kitty. Margaret could not have kids, and ended up raising Jacob’s illegitimate children. Kitty had three children of her own, and finally married either years after Margaret died. Jacob died in 1959, and Kitty died the same year as Mary, in 1979.
Kitty’s three children were Theo, who grew up to be an artist, but had schizophrenia and died young. Her daughter, Kitty (named after her) married an artist named Lucian Freud, and was his muse.
Kitty Jr (not what she was called but easier to not confuse her with her mother if I refer to her this way) was raised by her grandmother, Margaret, who instilled in her a love of reading and nature. Kitty Jr. moved to London to live with her mother when she decided to study painting. She made still life studies of plants and flowers. Kitty Jr. married an artist, but then had a second marriage to a man who was an oboist with stage fright. He changed his career to become a professor of economics. Kitty Jr. had a daughter and four homes – in London, Denmark, New York, and Suffolk. She filled her homes with flowers, shells, and tapestries, procuring art and books as well. She could often be eccentric, and once, at a picnic held at Cambridge with her husband, she suddenly said, “This is too beautiful. I just have to leave.” So she did.
Kitty’s other daughter, Esther, also had some mental illness issues and killed herself soon after Theo died. Kitty Jr. was the only one to reach old age.
Lorna was the youngest of the Garman siblings. She had affairs with various poets and painters, and was known as the most flamboyant of the siblings. She “wore beautiful and unusual clothes, and smelled of Chanel No. 5, went riding on her horse at night, drove a chocolate-brown Bentley, and would strip naked to swim in inviting lakes or rivers or 10-metre waves”. When she was sixteen, she married Ernest Wishart, who ran a publishing house that was associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. Lorna had affairs during her marriage, with Lucian Freud and Laurie Lee. She modelled for artists just like her sisters, and passed away in January 2000.
Lorna was described as very beautiful and seductive, and married a poet who she inspired to write, and had a daughter with him before leaving him for another man. She slept with other men, and was considered the most beautiful of the Garman sisters. When Lorna’s father died, she jumped for joy, as it meant she could be free. Lorna was described by one of the men she was with as having a “panther tread, voice full of musky secrets, her limbs uncoiling on beds of moonlight”. Others said she was fearless, and rode horses, drove fast, drank, smoked, and swam in the sea in the wintertime. Though Lorna had affairs, her husband had no problem with it, raising her children as his own. Below is Lorna:
One poet wrote of Lorna:
Your lips are turreted with guns
and bullets crack across your kiss,
and death slides down upon a string
to rape the heart of our horizon.
If you would like to read more about these women, you can click here and here.
When they were 21 and 17 years old, they ran away to London together, and lived in a one-room studio together, working as models for artists. They were beautiful and immediately got into the Bloomsbury Set which was comprised of poets, authors, painters, singers, and other socialites. In 1924, Mary married Roy Campbell, a South African poet. She wore a black and gold veil at her wedding, and had an “outrageous lifestyle”. He wrote about her in poems, and both of them cheated on each other. Mary had an affair with Vita Sackville-West (Virginia Woolf, who used to date her, was pretty upset about this). They had some children, but did not pay attention to them. Mary and her husband moved to the south of France and then to Spain. Mary and Roy got into a car crash in Portugal in 1957 and Roy died. Mary lived longer though, passing away in 1979. Below is Mary:
Kathleen Garman, called Kitty, was the third of nine children. She studied music and art as a child, and when she ran away to London with her sister, she met Jacob Epstein, who she began dating. He was married, and a sculptor, and her father was so upset that she was his mistress that he cut her out of his will. Jacob’s wife, Margaret, invited Kitty to her house and then shot her with a pistol. She didn’t die, and Jacob paid her hospital bills and persuaded her not to press charges. When shooting her didn’t work, Margaret decided to encourage Jacob to have more affairs with other people so that he’d get sick of Kitty. Margaret could not have kids, and ended up raising Jacob’s illegitimate children. Kitty had three children of her own, and finally married either years after Margaret died. Jacob died in 1959, and Kitty died the same year as Mary, in 1979.
Kitty’s three children were Theo, who grew up to be an artist, but had schizophrenia and died young. Her daughter, Kitty (named after her) married an artist named Lucian Freud, and was his muse.
Kitty Jr (not what she was called but easier to not confuse her with her mother if I refer to her this way) was raised by her grandmother, Margaret, who instilled in her a love of reading and nature. Kitty Jr. moved to London to live with her mother when she decided to study painting. She made still life studies of plants and flowers. Kitty Jr. married an artist, but then had a second marriage to a man who was an oboist with stage fright. He changed his career to become a professor of economics. Kitty Jr. had a daughter and four homes – in London, Denmark, New York, and Suffolk. She filled her homes with flowers, shells, and tapestries, procuring art and books as well. She could often be eccentric, and once, at a picnic held at Cambridge with her husband, she suddenly said, “This is too beautiful. I just have to leave.” So she did.
Kitty’s other daughter, Esther, also had some mental illness issues and killed herself soon after Theo died. Kitty Jr. was the only one to reach old age.
Lorna was the youngest of the Garman siblings. She had affairs with various poets and painters, and was known as the most flamboyant of the siblings. She “wore beautiful and unusual clothes, and smelled of Chanel No. 5, went riding on her horse at night, drove a chocolate-brown Bentley, and would strip naked to swim in inviting lakes or rivers or 10-metre waves”. When she was sixteen, she married Ernest Wishart, who ran a publishing house that was associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. Lorna had affairs during her marriage, with Lucian Freud and Laurie Lee. She modelled for artists just like her sisters, and passed away in January 2000.
Lorna was described as very beautiful and seductive, and married a poet who she inspired to write, and had a daughter with him before leaving him for another man. She slept with other men, and was considered the most beautiful of the Garman sisters. When Lorna’s father died, she jumped for joy, as it meant she could be free. Lorna was described by one of the men she was with as having a “panther tread, voice full of musky secrets, her limbs uncoiling on beds of moonlight”. Others said she was fearless, and rode horses, drove fast, drank, smoked, and swam in the sea in the wintertime. Though Lorna had affairs, her husband had no problem with it, raising her children as his own. Below is Lorna:
One poet wrote of Lorna:
Your lips are turreted with guns
and bullets crack across your kiss,
and death slides down upon a string
to rape the heart of our horizon.
If you would like to read more about these women, you can click here and here.
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