| Admin/Biog History | From January to July 1937 Nicolson worked as an honorary attaché at the National Gallery. Alongside this role he continued to pursue his professional interests by studying paintings in public and private collections in the UK. In March he travelled to Paris with Stuart Hampshire and spent three weeks studying pictures in the Louvre. He also enjoyed an active social life attending, in particular, a series of balls and debutante dances. |
| Description | In which Nicolson begins work as an honorary attaché at the National Gallery. Writes about his duties; hours/working day; colleagues; gossip; the collection; new acquisitions and loans in - in particular from the Prado, Tate and Gulbenkian collections. Also writes about visiting exhibitions and studying pictures in various public and private collections in the UK and in Paris.
Begins writing a book on Seurat and writes about his research. In particular, visits to the V&A and London Libraries, Warburg and Courtauld Institutes; books he is reading; colleagues consulted; institutions visited; and photographs acquired.
Enjoys an active social life writing, in particular, about, dining weekly with John Pope-Hennessy; visits to Oxford; and dances and balls attended with members of the Margesson, St Aubyn, Asquith and Bonham Carter families. Writes about falling in love with Laura Bonham Carter.
Also writes about finding lodgings in London; his father's (Harold Nicolson) political career including speeches made and an ambassadorial visit to Uganda; the political crisis in Europe; and discussion of Marxist and Communist ideologies at home.
This diary contains regular references not only to his immediate family (father, mother and brother) but also to his extended family - particularly the St Aubyn and Sackville-West families.
Of particular note:
January
-4th: starts work at the National Gallery; writes about the staff and his fellow attaché Denis Mahon; is given the task of re-arranging the Photographic Archive; visits John Pope-Hennessy in hospital [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-6th: visits Eardley Knolly's flat (owner of the Storran Gallery)
-7th-8th: visits John Pope-Hennessy at Avenue Road; begins work on a paper about Batoni; holds a cocktail party attended by, amongst others, Lady Ottoline Morrell
-12th: meets Tancred Borenius to discuss his plan of studying Ferrarese art
-13th: socialises with, amongst others, James Pope-Hennessy; discovers that John Pope-Hennessy is 'furious with me about Batoni and intends to speak to Clark on the matter'
-14th: visits a 'Pissarro-Sisley' exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery
-15th: visits Osbert and Karen Lancaster
-16th-17th: stays with Robert and Elinor Birley for the weekend
-19th: visits John Pope-Hennessy and discusses his plans to study Batoni and Ferrarese art
-20th & 25th: visits an exhibition of paintings by Seurat at the Wildenstein Gallery; decides to write a book on Seurat
-22nd: dines with Jeremy Hutchinson
-26th: visits John Pope-Hennessy and they discusses their separate research projects
-27th: meets David [Wallace?]
-30th-31st: returns to Oxford for the weekend; spends time with friends and acquaintances including Anthony Blunt; Isaiah Berlin; John Sparrow; Guy Burgess; Tom Boase and Louis MacNeice
February
-1st: meets Stephen Spender and Clive Entwistle at Wildenstein's Gallery
-2nd & 5th: meets Alfred Scharf at John Pope-Hennessy's house; visits Scharf at his house in Gloucester Road
-6th: wood-pannelling and central heating installed at Sissinghurst
-8th: records that his mother is about go 'with Gwen to Algeria - the nearest and warmest and at the same time most remote place they could find'
-9th: attends a lecture at the Warburg Institute given by Henri Focillon
-11th: socialises with John Pope-Hennessy and John Sparrow
-12th: dines with Clive Entwhistle
-14th: visits Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace
-15th: moves into lodgings in Gloucester Place; continues his research on Seurat at the V&A library
-18th: visits Lady Ottoline Morrell in Gower Street
-19th: visits Lucien Pissarro in his studio at Stamford Brook
-20th-22nd: spends the weekend at the Margesson's house in Byfield with other guests; meets Laura Bonham-Carter for the first time; attends a dinner party organised by Ethel Sands with other guests including Leigh Ashton
-24th: hosts a dinner party for Jasper Ridley and John Pope-Hennessy at Gloucester Place
-27th: visits an exhibition of pictures in private collections at the Burlington Fine Arts Club
-28th: spends the day in Oxford socialising with various friends including Tom Boase and Maurice Bowra
March
-1st: visits an exhibition of paintings by Reynolds at Sir Philip Sassoon's house in Park Lane; dines with Sam and Jessica St. Aubyn and various other debutantes at Onslow Gardens; attends a dance given for Gwen St Aubyn's nursery charity
-4th: attends a sherry party with Desmond Shawe-Taylor
-5th: attends a sherry party with Clive Entwhistle; dines with John Pope-Hennessy
-6th: takes Laura Bonham Carter out for the evening
-7th: visits Kenwood House; dines with Leigh Ashton
-8th: lunches with his father (Harold Nicolson) who has just returned from Uganda; attends a cocktail party organised by Mrs Margesson, the first night of a new play by William Douglas Home at the Duke of York's theatre, and a dance organised by Lady Oranmore and Browne held at Claridge's. Dances with Laura Bonham Carter
-11th: attends a sherry party organised by Laura and Cressida Bonham Carter and Nancy Brett and attended by, amongst others, Clive Bell
-12th: lunches with Clive Bell; has tea with John McNair
-13th-14th: spends the weekend in Sissinghurst with his parents (Vita Sackville-West & Harold Nicolson) and brother (Nigel Nicolson) catching up on their news
-16th: dines with John McNair
-17th & 18th: attends various social events with Laura Bonham Carter
-19th: introduces Laura Bonham-Carter to Isaiah Berlin; has tea with John Pope-Hennessy
-24th: dines with John Pope-Hennessy
-25th: arrives in Paris with Stuart Hampshire
-26th-31st: visits the Louvre to study paintings; meets Freddie Ayer; meets Cyril Connolly; visits an exhibition of works by Degas at the Orangerie
April
-1st-14th: visits the Louvre to study paintings
-2nd: visits the Harriques-Rodrigues Gallery in Rue Bonaparte; visits the flat of Felix Fénéon, views his collection and is presented with a sketch by Seurat
-3rd & 4th: socialises with Count Biéville
-6th: visits the Museé Audré
-7th: visits Jacques Emile Blanche with Stuart Hampshire
-8th-10th: socialises with Anthony Blunt who had 'made an assignation with [James Klugmann] a full-bodied Marxist who controls four revolutions in China and who seemed to know every fact about all advanced revolutionary activity in every country' [A digital copy of the entry for 10 April can be found below]
-11th: visits Jacques Emile Blanche in his studio
-15th: arrives back in London
-17th: spends the morning at the Rothschild's house at 148 Piccadilly; visits Jeremy Hutchinson at his family home; returns to Sissinghurst
-20th: dines with Stuart Hampshire and John Pope-Hennessy
-23rd: dines with James Pope-Hennessy
-25th: lunches with Sibyl Colefax at Sissinghurst
-26th: lunches with Edward Marsh at the Raymond Buildings, Gray's Inn and views his picture collection
-27th: visits an exhibition of works by Constable at the Wildenstein Gallery
-28th: lunches with Philip Pouncey
May:
-3rd: attends a dance given by Lady Howard de Walden at Seaford House, Belgrave Square
-4th: attends a dinner given by Jessica St Aubyn and a dance given by 'Edith Lambert's mother' at the Dorchester
-8th: takes Laura Bonham-Carter to Sissinghurst for the first time
-9th: reads the typescript of his mother's new novel 'Pepita'
-11th: attends a rehearsal for the Coronation Costume Ball in the Albert Hall
-12th: watches the coronation of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon from the third floor of Simpson's in Piccadilly and, with friends, takes a boat down the Thames to Southend [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-13th: attends the Coronation Costume Ball in the Albert Hall
-15th: visits an exhibition of works by Constable in the Turner rooms at Tate Gallery
-19th: meets John Pope-Hennessy who talks about his forthcoming travels to Italy and his book on Giovanni di Paolo
-22nd-23rd: spends the weekend with the Bonham Carter family at their house near Salisbury
-27th: takes Laura Bonham Carter to tea with his father, (Harold Nicolson) and others including Ramsay Macdonald and Mrs Morrow, on the terrace of the House of Commons
-29th: visits an exhibition of paintings by Sisley at Tooth's Gallery and an exhibition of paintings by Renior at Rosenbergs
-31st: writes that he is going to 'try and get Berenson to take me at I Tatti during next autumn - no training could be more invaluable'
June:
-1st: attends a charity ball at the Dorchester with Laura Bonham Carter
-5th: hosts a party of 40 female constituents from Leicester to a tea party at Sissinghurst
-6th: has tea with the Lindbergh family at Long Barn
-7th: visits Hampton Court and studies the pictures
-8th: attends a dance at Lady Astor's house with the Margesson family and Laura Bonham-Carter
-10th: takes Laura Bonham-Carter to the presentation of the Hawthornden Prize at the Aeolian Hall
-12th-13th: spends the day in Oxford catching up with various friends and family: his brother (Nigel Nicolson); Maurice Bowra; Peggy Ashcroft; Tom Boase; Francis Graham-Harrison; Isaiah Berlin; and Stuart Hampshire
-14th: visits the Ashmolean and views the Wheldon bequest
-17th: attends a cocktail party organised by Osbert and Karen Lancaster at Addison Crescent; and a dinner party at Dame Una Pope-Hennessy's house in Avenue Road
-19th: visits exhibition of works by 'Ingres to Picasso' at Rosenberg's Gallery and a 'one man Cezanne show' at Wildenstein's Gallery
-19th-20th: spends the weekend at Knole with Charles and Anne Sackville-West and a party of guests
-21st: dines with Jeremy Hutchinson
-27th: visits an exhibition of 'works in private Collections throughout Kent' organised by Harold Isherwood Kay, held in Canterbury
-28th: visits an exhibition of 'works in private collections in the West Country' held in Bristol
-29th: attends a dance in Park Lane with guests including Jan and Gay Margesson and Laura Bonham Carter
July
-1st: attends a dance given by Lady Lucas in Gloucester House with guests including Jan and Gay Margesson, Laura and Cressida Bonham Carter and Mary Asquith
-2nd: spends the day at Henley with Laura Bonham Carter
-3rd: visits the new Duveen sculpture rooms at the Tate Gallery
-5th: attends Lady Desborough's annual party at Taplow Court; dines with Isaiah Berlin and Stuart Hampshire
-6th: attends a dance held by the Margesson's at Claridge's
-8th: is shown four paintings, newly acquired by Kenneth Clark for the National Gallery, said to be by Giorgione
-9th-11th: spends the weekend with Robert and Elinor Birley at Charterhouse
-12th: dines with Leonard & Virginia Woolf in Tavistock Square [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-14th: meets John Pope-Hennessy who talks about his recent visit to Italy; attends a dinner party organised by the Countess of Iveagh and a dance organised by Lady Moyne
-15th: attends a dinner party organised by Lady Cadogan and a dance organised by Lady Clarendon
-16th: attends a dance given by Lady Wiegall at Ascot
-19th: views an exhibition of paintings by Matisse at the Roseberry Gallery; and the private Collection of John Menton at his flat in Rossmore Court; meets John Pope-Hennessy and discusses his career ambitions
|
| Image Caption | Journal entry for 4 January concerning Nicolson's first day as Honorary Attaché at the National Gallery, 1936 (3pp) |
| Journal entry for 10 April concerning dining with Anthony Blunt, 1936 |
| Journal entry for 12 May concerning the coronation of King George VI, 1936 (4pp) |
| Journal entry for 12 July concerning dining with Virgina Woolf, 1936 (2pp) |