Edith Sitwell
- Artist: Wyndham Lewis
- Date: 1923–35
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 864 x 1118 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is “Edith Sitwell,” a portrait painted in oil on canvas between 1923 and 1935 by Wyndham Lewis. The work shows the poet Edith Sitwell seated amid an interior, with subtle details like a hat, globe, and a small book that hint at her literary life. Lewis began the commission when he was close to the wealthy Sitwell family, hoping their patronage would help him pay his studio rent. He abandoned the canvas in October 1923 after leaving town, only to resume it more than ten years later. By 1935 he completed the painting, and at that point he had grown a little resentful of the Sitwells, seeing them as amateur artists rather than true patrons of “real” art. The portrait captures their evolving relationship: initial enthusiasm turning into distance. Lewis’ brushwork reflects this change—his strokes are confident yet slightly uneven where the sitter’s hands appear missing in his rendition. The piece was presented to the collection by Sir Edward Beddington‑Behrens in 1943, a testament to its artistic value and personal history.
See it in person
Edith Sitwell is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
