The Women Who Inspired London Art: The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century

This is the story of women caught up in thetumultuous art scene of the early twentiethcentury, some famous and others lost totime.By 1910 the patina of the belle poquewas wearing thin in London. Artists wereon the hunt for modern women who couldhold them in thrall. A chance encounter onthe street could turn an artless child intoan artists model, and a model into a muse.Most were accidental beauties, plucked fromobscurity to pose in the great art schoolsand studios. Many returned home to livesthat were desperately challenging almostall were anonymous.Meet them now. Sit with them in theCaf Royal amid the wives and mistressesof Londons most provocative artists. Peekbehind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts atwomen whose identities are some of arthistorys most enduring secrets. Drawing ona rich mlange of historical and anecdotalrecords and a primary source, this isstorytelling that sweeps up the reader inthe cultural tides that raced across Londonin the Edwardian, Great War and interwarperiods.A highlight of the book is a reveal of theAvico siblings, a family of models whosefaces can be found in paint and bronze andstone today. Their lives and contributionshave been cloaked in a century of silence.Now, illuminated by family photos and oralhistories from the daughter of one of themodels, the Avico story is finally told.