"Memory" by E. Prosser Rhys

Nina Hamnett (1890-1956) was born on the 14th of February, 1890 – on St Valentine’s Day in Tenby, as it says on the plaque marking the place of her birth.

Like Gwen John, who also grew up in Tenby, Nina was bisexual - openly, unlike many other queer people of the time. Affairs with women such as Vanessa Bell are rumoured (rumours possibly started by Nina) while she also had affairs with male artists who she modelled for, such as Roger Fry and Modigliani. As well as portraits by Fry, and one portrait by Modigliani, she was painted by Walter Sickert with her husband and posed for a sculpture of her nude torso by Gaudier Brzeska.

Her autobiography published in 1932 was named in reference to this sculpture: The Laughing Torso. The tale of her bohemian life was a bestseller in the US and UK, where her reputation was growing. In it she recounts growing up in Wales, unhappily - of her birth, she writes:

“Everybody was furious, especially my Father, who still is. As soon as I became conscious of anything I was furious too, at having been born a girl; I have since discovered it has certain advantages.”

In her adult life, she writes of her own becoming an artist, the people she met, from members of the Bloomsbury Group to other Welsh artists and writers (Dylan Thomas, Augustus John, Cedric Morris), and of her many love affairs. Though Nina and Norwegian artist Edgar de Bergen married in 1914, she was relieved when their relationship ended three years later- they never saw each other again but did not get a divorce. Nina continued to be prolific in Parisian society, dancing on a Montparnasse café table for the ‘hell of it.’

Her bohemian life, and infamous autobiography depicting it, would overshadow her art, however. Nina was an extremely talented artist, and successful too, as one of the most respected women artists of her period. Other artists saw her talent but Nina was more drawn to the bohemian life of Paris and London. Her life, however, went downhill after she was sued by Aleister Crowley for have written in Laughing Torso that he was involved in black magic.

Nina died on the 16th of December, 1956, after falling from her apartment window. Whether accidental or intentional is unclear - her last words are said to be ‘Who don’t they let me die?’ On the last page of The Laughing Torso, she had wrote, ‘I wish I could have jumped out of the window.’

Nina Hamnett was knows as the 'Queen of the Fitzroy’ in her life and is now also known as the 'Queen of Bohemia.’

[Images: 1. Portrait of Nina Hamnett by Roger Fry, in a dress designed by Vanessa Bell, made at Omega Workshops, 1917. 2. ‘Dolores’ by Nina Hamnett, 1931.]