The Real Bohemians : A Story of Bohemian Women in Ten Meetings

A beautifully written and fascinating new history of early twentieth century bohemian London, one that places forgotten female voices firmly at its centre, from a talented art historian whose previous book, Gwen John, was a Times Book of the Year in 2023

A beautifully written and fascinating new history of early twentieth century bohemian London, one that places forgotten female voices firmly at its centreEarly 20th century bohemian London was supposedly a home for outsiders, but accounts of it have been dominated by a set who were born insiders: the well-connected and wealthy Bloomsbury Group of Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Lytton Strachey. But we have neglected another Bohemia, that of artists who did not fit that rarefied world - and are now mainly forgotten. And because the occupants of the fringes, and the forgotten, often find their way there because of their sex, this alternative Bohemia is a story of women. In THE REAL BOHEMIANS, Alicia Foster gives us the stories of twelve women, well known whilst alive but increasingly lost to us. These were artists, writers and performers who operated as outsiders, but whose work and influence was profound. Through a series of meetings between them, against a backdrop of the haunts of bohemian London - bedsits and flats, Soho and the Café Royal on Piccadilly - these lives and the influence of their work, are unveiled. Featuring: Katherine Mansfield * George Banks * Anne Estelle Rice * Jessica Dismorr * Helen Saunders * Katie Gliddon * Dora Carrington * Dolly Henry * Laura Knight * Lydia Lopokova * Iris Tree * Nancy Cunard * Nina Hamnett * Dorelia McNeill