THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
(LADY) NAOMI MITCHISON (1938) BY WYNDHAM LEWIS PURCHASED WITH ASSISTANCE FROM THE ART FUND AND THE PATRONS OF THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND 2003
Naomi Mitchsion said that Lewis’ portrait was how she would like to be remembered as he ‘got at something below the surface’. Mitchison was a writer, socialist and feminist born in Edinburgh in 1897. She was working on her novel The Blood of the Martyrs in 1938 while sitting for this portrait, set in ancient Rome at the time of the persecution of the early Christians, the book was an allegory with contemporary references to Nazi Germany and the threat of war. Mitchison said that the pensive frown was a reflection of the ‘brooding anxiety’ of the times. (James Holloway)
18 THE LIST 17 Nov–15 Dec 2011