Gluck had a long and distinguished association with The Fine Art Society in London and I am particularly grateful to the Society’s directors, Tony Carroll and Andrew Mcintosh Patrick. They have done all they could to make this book a success. They commented on the manuscript, gave permission to reproduce photographs of her paintings, opened their records to me and supplied me with many useful contacts.
On a snowy afternoon in January 1987 I talked by a huge log fire with Hermia Priestley, a close friend of Gluck’s since the 1940s. I felt that I gained from Mrs Priestley a special understanding of Gluck and her aspirations. Equally memorable and useful were my meetings with Valerie Spry. She vividly evoked London of the 1930s and Gluck’s social milieu at that time. Keith Lichtenstein, who collected Gluck’s paintings and believed in her talent when the world had forgotten her, helped me to understand her worth as a painter. Susan Loppert, who had planned to write a biography of Gluck in 1974, generously made her notes available to me. David Tonkinson and Vernon Blackburn, Gluck’s accountants and hommes d’affaires, gave me their memories of Gluck and access to files of correspondence relating to her business matters. Professor Andrew Thomson helped me to understand her campaign to improve the quality of artists’ materials. Christine Leback Sitwell allowed me sight of the first draft of the thesis, now published, which she wrote on this campaign.
I am indebted, too, to June and Raul Casares and to Dr Ivan Heald, who supplied me with information about the professional achievements and way of life of the sisters Nora and Edith Shackleton Heald; to Nesta Macdonald who loaned me letters, and cuttings from the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express of Edith Shackleton’s leading articles in the 1920s; to David Yorke for his frank assessment of Gluck’s psychological make-up; to those who worked for Gluck at the Chantry House and told me much about her later life: Clare Griffin, her personal assistant, Mr Lovett the gardener, Winifred Vye, the housekeeper and Mrs Guy who did the housework.
I am most grateful, also, for the help and information given to me by Chloe Blackburn, Dr Richard Boger, Meggie Bowman, the Duke and Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch, Betsan Coates, Georgina Cookson, William Davenport, Liz Drury, Peter Giffard, Robert Harris, Lady Lancaster, Marjorie-Anne Lowenstein, Julia Lowenthal, Diana Menuhin, Ralph Merton, George Morton, Gilbert Odd, Tom Parrington, Anne Pemberton, Dr and Mrs Konrad Rodan, Lt-CoL Nelson Sawyer, Edward Staysack, Marjorie Watts and Adrianne Whitney.
My best thanks, too, to my agent Tessa Sayle for her support, to Peter Campbell for designing the book and for his comments on the manuscript and to Philippa Brewster, my editor. Acknowledgement is due to the Houghton Library, Harvard, who own the letters of W. B. Yeats to Edith Shackleton Heald paraphrased on pages 216 and 217; to the Huntington Library, California for the photograph on page 216 and to the Hulton Picture Library for the photograph on page 233.
About the Author
Diana Souhami is the author of many highly acclaimed books: Selkirk’s Island, winner of the 2001 Whitbread Biography Award; The Trials of Radclyffe Hall, shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography and winner of the Lambda Literary Award; the bestselling Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter, winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 1997; Natalie and Romaine; Gertrude and Alice; Greta and Cecil; Gluck: Her Biography; and others. She lives in London and Devon.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 1988, 1989 by Diana Souhami
Cover design by Kathleen Lynch
ISBN: 978-1-4976-8335-8
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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DIANA SOUHAMI
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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