| Admin/Biog History | Nicolson spent the first three months of 1939 continuing his tour of the US, viewing pictures in public and private collection in various cities. The majority of his time was spent in Boston, working at the Fogg Museum. Nicolson returned to England at the beginning of April taking up the position of Deputy Surveyor of the King's Pictures. He spent the next few months settling into this role, familiarising himself with the collections at Buckingham Palace; Windsor and Hampton Court. He moved into lodgings in Guildford Street and spent the summer months socialising with a wide circle of friends and colleagues. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the 83rd Light Anti-Aircraft Battery at Sevenoaks run by Victor Cazalet and moved into a flat at Knole. |
| Description | In which Nicolson continues his tour of the USA viewing and studying the pictures in both public and private and collections in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Washington. Spends six weeks in Boston working at the Fogg museum where Margaret Gilman gives him the task of working on 'Symeon Metaphrastes in relation to Byzantine iconography after nativity'. Socialises with - amongst others - Stuart Preston, Bill Tyler, Eric Schroeder, Bobby Leveridge, Helen & Molly McGlade, Agnes Morgan, Paul Sachs, Phil Hofer, Jack Thacher, Robin Field, Copley, and Minna Curtiss. Returns periodically to New York; continues to write his book on Seurat; meets many American art historians, museum and gallery directors and curators; compares the smaller museums of the USA; visits various exhibitions and writes about his experiences of Americans and American life generally.
Returns to England and is appointed Deputy Surveyor of the King's Pictures. Spends the summer settling into his new role: meeting the King & Queen; working with staff of the Royal Palaces - including in particular Kenneth Clark, Richard 'Dick' Molyneux, Owen Morshead and Gerald Wellesley - and familiarising himself with the collections at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace.
Also socialises with a wide circle of friends including, in particular Philip Toynbee, Anne Powell, Catherine Sinclair, Cressida and Jasper Ridley, Francis Graham-Harrison; and members of the Margesson, Spencer-Churchill, Asquith and Bonham-Carter families. Attends weekly parties hosted by Sybil Colefax and regularly frequents the Café Royal, Chez Victor, the Travellers and Brooks Clubs.
Writes about the political situation in Europe and reports on discussions with his father (Harold Nicolson) about the British government's response to the aggressive policies of Hitler and and the Nazi party including, in particular, the different factions within parliament (such as the 'Munichois' and the 'Greenwood party'). From August onwards describes the onset of war and its effect on every day life.
This diary contains only passing references to Nicolson's mother (Vita Sackville-West) and brother (Nigel Nicolson). His father (Harold Nicolson) is referenced regularly in relation to the policitcal situation.
Of particular note:
January
-1st: attends an 'Egg-Nog' party in Tuxedo alongside various individuals including Simon Elwes and Byba Coster
-2nd-6th: arrives in Washington; visits the Freer Art Gallery; Duncan Phillips Gallery of Modern Art; Shakespearean Library; National Museum and the Corcoran Gallery. Also lunches at the British Embassy; meets John Ellerton Lodge; meets Walter Lippmann; meets Duncan Phillips & views his private collection; lunches with Mrs Robert Bliss & views her private collection
-6th-7th: lunches at Robert Bliss' house in Dumbarton Oaks & views his collection; arrives in Baltimore; visits the Walters Art Museum and the City Art Museum
-9th-12th: arrives in Philadelphia; views the Barnes collection; meets Henry McIlhenny and views his collection; views the paintings in the Johnson collection storage rooms and meets Constance Biddle; views the Widener collection; views the Philadelphia Museum collection; attends a dinner and dance party at the Ritz Carlton
-14th: arrives in New York; has dinner with Freddy Hartt; writes about his sex life which is 'doomed to failure'
-15th: arrives in Boston
-24th: attends an exhibition of Dutch painting at Rhode Island School of Design
-27th: reports that David Wallace is married and comments on his own sexuality
-30th: lunches with Bill Tyler where Alix Bocker talks about Hitler's aggressive foreign policy and the German public
February
-6th: attends a cocktail party organised by Eric Schroder to meet Jim Ede
-17th: dines with Alfred Nicholson at his house in Wellesley
-18th: hosts a dinner for guests including, amongst others, Minna Curtis and John Housmann
-19th: meets May Sarton
-27th: attends the opening night of an Orson Welles' production of Five Kings
-28th: takes May Sarton out for dinner
March
-1st: visits an exhibition of 'Sources of Modern Art' at the Boston Fine Art Museum
-2nd-3rd: visits an exhibition of Flemish Art at the Worcester Art Museum
-5th-6th: arrives at Buffalo; stays with the O'Reilly's; visits the Art Gallery; visits Niagra Falls
-7th-8th: arrives in Cleveland and visits the Cleveland museum
-9th: arrives in Detroit and visits the Detroit Art Institute
-10th: arrives in Toledo and visits the Gallery
-10th-15th: arrives in Chicago; visits the Chicago Art Institute; meets John Storrs; attends the Orchestra Hall with Mrs Godspeed, Alice Roullier and Vera Zorina; views the private collection of Mrs McCormick; attends a cocktail party given by Alexander Archipenko; meets Daniel Catton Rich; views the private collection of Mr Worcester
-16th: writes about the political turmoil in Europe including the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia under the Nazi party and the proclamation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
-17th-18th: arrives in St Louis; visits the City Art Museum; views the private collection of Joseph Pulitzer Jnr
-19th-20th: arrives in Kansas City; meets Larry Sickman; visits the Kansas City Museum (Nelson Art Gallery)
-21st: arrives in Cincinnati and visits the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Taft Museum
-23rd-27th: arrives in New York; visits the 'lowest parts' of the city; visits the Frick; learns that Charles Spencer plans to open a Communist museum in London for 'political, social and artistic propaganda'; dines with Fred Hartt and discusses Hartt's sexual crises; is offered a position by Charles Durand Ruel; spends an afternoon at Seligmann's
-28th-29th: arrives in Washington; stays with descendants of John Singleton Copley; visits the Library of Congress; visits the Corcoran Gallery and views the private collection of Andrew Mellon with David E. Finley
-29th-31st: arrives in New York; meets Alfred Barr; meets Meyer Schapiro; meets William Valentiner; views the private collection of Stephen Clark
April
-1st: writes about the political situation in Europe
-3rd-6th: meets Douglas Cooper; visits Cloisters; writes about his own sexuality; visits an exhibition of works by Dali at the Julien Levy Gallery; visits the Museum of Modern Art; visits the Marie Harriman Collection and the Frick with Fred Hartt
-7th-11th: sails on the Queen Mary for Europe; socialises with Maurice James
-12th: arrives in Southampton; learns of his new job as Surveyor of the King's pictures
-15th: meets the King and Queen at Windsor castle and is given the job of Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-18th: writes about how he came to be offered the position at Windsor Castle: 'K[enneth] has acted evidently on the recommendation of others'; visits the Café Royal with, amongst others, Tom Boase and Brian Howard
-19th: visits Buckingham Palace to view the pictures and learn more about his position; visits an exhibition of works by Cezanne at Rosenburg's and the Storran Galleries; dines with his father (Harold Nicolson), Buck de la Warre and Jeremy Hutchinson
-20th: visits Hampton Court with Kenneth Clark to view the pictures and learn more about his position; comments on how the role might affect him personally writing that it might 'alienate me from my extreme left-wing friends'
-21st: lunches at Kenneth Clark's house with various guests including Henry Moore; visits his office at the Lord Chamberlain's Office for the first time
-22nd: entertains Julian and Desmond Shawe Taylor at Sissinghurst
-24th: begins his first task as Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures by re-arranging the notes and correspondence of Collins Baker
-25th: visits St James' Palace with Kenneth Clark; lunches with, amongst others, Stephen Spender; dines with Louis Gillet, John Pope-Hennessy and others [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-26th: attends a party at Kenneth & Jane Clark's house attended by, amongst others, the Euston Road group of artists; visits Lawrence Gowing in his studio [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-27th: visits the Euston Road group hoping to meeting de Segonzac; has lunch with Victor Pasmore [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-28th: dines with Gerald Wellesley and James Lees-Milne
-30th: lunches with Enid Bagnold and her children at Sissinghurst
May
-2nd: attends a lecture by Wittkower at the Courtauld
-4th: attends a lecture by Wittkower at the Courtauld; visits Cressida Bonham-Carter and and Jasper Ridley ('Bubbles' )
-5th: visits Windsor with Richard Molyneux to view the pictures and meet the staff
-6th: meets Ivone Kirkpatrick who discusses the political situation in Europe and his experiences at the 'Hitler-Chamberlain interviews'
-7th: Sissinghurst garden open to the paying public
-9th: has dinner with, amongst others, Dan Thompson and discusses Bernard Berenson's plans to leave I Tatti to Harvard
-10th: views the pictures at Bridgewater House
-11th: visits Kensington Palace and Hampton Court
-12th: visits Windsor as a guest of Owen Morshead
-15th: meets Dr Leland and discusses the idea of I Tatti being taken over by the Society of Cultural Research
-16th: writes about preparations for the outbreak of war at Buckingham Palace and at the National Gallery; meets John Pope-Hennessy for lunch
-17th: lunches with Stephen Spender; views the private collection of Langton Douglas
-18th: views an exhibition of works by Picasso at the London Gallery; writes about his attempt to learn more about picture restoration and plans for a dress rehearsal of the evacuation of pictures at Buckingham Palace
-19th: lunches with Giles Robertson and writes that 'Fischel; Ellis Waterhouse; Freddy; the Tictles[?] are helping with research' for a book on Catena
-20th: spends the weekend in Oxford with friends made during his time at Balliol, in particular Maurice Bowra; Isaiah Berlin; Roger Mynors and Stuart Hampshire
-23rd: meets John Rothenstein and H. Clifford Smith; dines with Clive Bell
-24th: spends the evening with Virgina Woolf and others at Tavistock Square; discusses plans to produce a volume of Roger Fry's unpublished lectures
-25th: attends the ceremony opening Osterley park to the public; visits the Duke of York's headquarters in Kings Road to discuss with Jack MacNamara whether to join the London Irish Regiment
-30th-31st: spends time at Tavistock Sqaure going through Roger Fry's papers
June
-1st: dines with Karin and Adrian Stephen and, amongst others, Nigel Henderson
-2nd: dines with Francis Graham-Harrison
-3-4th: spends the weekend at Sissinghurst with Raymond [Mortimer]
-6th: lunches with Sybil Colefax; Cecil Beaton, Ursula Ridley and others
-7th: spends time at Tavistock Square going through Roger Fry's papers
-8th: attends the marriage of Cressida Bonham Carter and Jasper Ridley; dines with the Lord Chamberlain in St James' Palace
-9th-11th: spends the weekend, alongside other individuals including Peter Fleming and Celia Johnson, as a guest of Violet Bonham Carter's at the Manor House in Mells
-12th: attends a lecture by Ruhemann at the National Gallery; dines with Kenneth and Jane Clark and other guests including Helen Anrep
-13th-14th: spends time at Tavistock Square going through Roger Fry's papers
-15th: visits the Office of Works with Kenneth Clark; attends, with Cynthia Asquith, the presentation of the Hawthornden Prize at the Aeolian Hall; views Epstein's sculpture 'Adam' at the Leicester Galleries; attends a boat party with his friends, ending the evening at the Palais de Danse in Tottenham Court Road
-17th-18th: spends the weekend with Mrs Spender Clay and other guests at Lingfield, Surrey
-19th: visits Buckingham Palace to discuss preparations for the outbreak of war
-20th: visits exhibitions at Tooth's and Rosenburg's with Kenneth Clark; takes Francis Graham-Harrison to a lecture given by his father (Harold Nicolson) on the English and French character
-22nd: spends the evening with Francis Graham-Harrison; John Pope-Hennessy and Tom Boase
-24th-25th: moves into new rooms at 18 Guilford Street; spends the weekend with the Margesson's at Boddington with various guests including James Byam-Shaw
-26th-27th: writes about a falling out with John Pope-Hennessy following his review of the Sassetta publication [see also: LBN/2/25]; dines with Leigh Ashton and discuss plans for an Art Congress; attends Osbert Lancaster's party where 'all the 1927 homosexuals were gathered around Maurice [Bowra]'
-28th: socialises with a large party of people including, amongst others, Philip Toynbee and Ivan Moffatt
-29th: visits Virgina Woolf and Helen Anrep in Tavistock Sqaure to discuss plans to produce a volume of Roger Fry's unpublished letters; meets Philip Toynbee at the Café Royal
-30th: writes about the political situation in Europe; dines with Kenneth & Jane Clark and other guests including Lady Cunard and Robert Byron; meets Brian Howard and spends the evening at a nightclub
July:
-2nd: attends the 'Yates Gala Performance' at Smallhythe with his mother (Vita Sackville-West)
-3rd: attends a performance given by Ruth Draper; writes about the political situation in Europe and his father's (Harold Nicolson) activities in the House of Commons
-4th: visits Virgina Woolf to pick up a suitcase of Roger Fry's most recent essays
-5th: attends a party with, amongst others, Priscilla [Bibesco]
-7th: visits Christie's with Queen Mary to view the collection of Sir Edmund Davis; meets Gerald Wellesley to discuss the removal of pictures from Buckingham Palace
-9th: Victor Cazalet; Desmond McCarthy and other guests visit Sissinghurst
-10th: attends Lady Desborough's annual party with Clarissa Spencer-Churchill; dines with Philip Toynbee and Lawrence Gowing
-11th: lunches with his father (Harold Nicolson) and John Sparrow
-13th: visits Windsor Castle; socialises with, amongst others, Philip Toynbee
-14th: holds a party in his new rooms at 18 Guilford Street
-15th-17th: spends the weekend as guest of the Huntingdon's in Amberley, alongside others including Philip Toynbee and Anne Powell
-18th: dines with Virginia & Leonard Woolf alongside other guests including Isaiah Berlin
-19th: attends a ball at Buckingham Palace
-20th: attends a party hosted by Alfreda Huntington with guests including Anne Powell and Philip Toynbee
-21st: attends a party hosted by Ivan [Moffatt] in Fitzroy Square, gets very drunk and opens up to Rex Whistler about his sexuality
-24th: attends a party hosted by Sybil Colefax and attended by, amongst others, Cynthia Asquith; attends a party at the Victoria & Albert museum for the initiation of the Congress of Art where he has an interview with Queen Mary and John Pope-Hennessy tries to repair their friendship [see also LBN/2/25]
-25th: attends the International Congress of Art [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-26th: dines with Philip Toynbee
-27th: listens to Kenneth Clark 'hold forth' about a variety of issues; socialises with Henry McIlhenny and Philip Toynbee
-28th: helps Owen Morshead take the Congress of Art around the state rooms at Windsor; holds a party in his rooms at 18 Guilford Street with guests including Philip Toynbee and Anne Powell
-29th: attends the last Congress of Art meeting; tries to repair his friendship with John Pope-Hennessy
-31st: assists with the removal of pictures from Buckingham Palace to Windsor in preparation for the outbreak of war
August:
-1st: assists with the removal of pictures from Buckingham Palace to Windsor in preparation for the outbreak of war
-3rd: records that he talks to Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess for half an hour about the Royal Family and tries hard not 'to make it appear that I was concealing certain facts'; visit to Osterley with [H?] Clifford-Smith; dines with Jeremy Hutchinson
-5th-7th: spends the weekend at Sissinghurst with Francis Graham-Harrison
-8th: prepares the pictures at Windsor for evacuation; dines with Stuart Preston
-9th-21st spends a week in Clovelly, with the Asquith family and a party of guests rehearsing for a production of the Merchant of Venice; writes about his friendship with Philip Toynbee; performs the play in Colvelly & Wells
-22nd-31st: writes about the political situation in Europe; emergency meetings of Parliament (recounted via his father, Harold Nicolson) and the threat of war. Also writes about preparations for the outbreak of war taken by the Royal Palaces, the National Gallery and in London more generally. Enrols as a stretcher-bearer and begins writing his book on Seurat again
September
-2nd: makes preparations for evacuating four pictures from Hampton Court Palace
-3rd: experiences the first air-raid warning at Sissinghurst; his father reports on 'the events in Parliament not recorded in the press'
-4th-30th: joins the Anti-Aircraft unit run by Victor Cazalet at Sevenoaks; attends the marriage of Jessica St Aubyn and Pat Koppell; meets Roland Pym; moves into a spare room at Knole; takes part in drills and parades & learns to work a Lewis gun; discusses & writes about the war, its aims and the role of Russia in particular; writes that Hilda Matheson and Guy Burgess visit Sissinghurst to talk 'Ministry of Information secrets with Daddy'; continues to work on his book Seurat
-26th-30th: Philip Toynbee stays at Knole; writes about Toynbee's personality, politics & communist allegiances
October
-1st: his father (Harold Nicolson), Anthony Eden, Bob Boothby and others visits Victor Cazalet's house and give 'impassioned speeches against Chamberlain'
-2nd-15th: writes about the the war; its aims and the immediate implications for himself, his friends and family
-11th: attends a party hosted by James Pope-Hennessy, with guests including Anne Powell. Gets drunk and talks to Ivan Moffatt about his sexuality
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| Image Caption | Journal entry for 15 April concerning Nicolson's appointment as Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures, 1939 (2pp) |
| Journal entry for 25-27 April concerning various social engagements including a visit to the Euston Road Group artists, 1939 (2pp) |
| Journal entry for 25 July concerning the International Congress on Art, 1939 |
| Journal entry for 1 September concerning the outbreak of war, 1939 |